Congress Demands Better Service But Isn't Willing To Pay For It

     The House of Representatives has passed a bill to improve customer service at federal agencies. The bill provides that:

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall develop—
(A) performance measures to determine whether agencies are providing high-quality,timely customer service and improving service delivery to customers of the agencies; and 
(B) standards to be met by agencies in order to provide high-quality customer service and improve service delivery to customers of the agencies, including—
     (i) specific milestones and performance targets for continuous service improvements and efforts to modernize service delivery; and
      (ii) where appropriate, target response times for telephone calls, electronic mail, mail, benefit processing, and payments.

     However, the bill also provides that "It is the sense of Congress that no additional funds should be appropriated to carry out this Act." The problem is that without additional funds, Social Security isn't going to provide better service to the public. In fact, lack of adequate funding is placing the agency on a trajectory that leads to much worse customer service.