For anyone who thinks that Social Security is going to be in better shape once it gets its appropriation for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, which begins on October 1, 2015, here's a reality check. These are the numbers in the House Labor-HHS Appropriations bill, which covers the Social Security Administration, presented in a table put together by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. That plan to dramatically increase the number of Administrative Law Judges at Social Security? It's not happening unless the agency cannibalizes something else which means it's pretty unlikely to happen.
| House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Overview (in billions of dollars) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 enacted | 2015 enacted | 2016 | Percent change, adjusted for inflation | ||||
| current dollars | 2016 dollars | current dollars | 2016 dollars | House bill | 2010 to 2016 |
2015 to 2016 |
|
| Dept. of Labor | 13.5 | 15.1 | 11.9 | 12.2 | 11.7 | -22.5% | -3.6% |
| Dept. of Health and Human Services | 73.2 | 82.0 | 71.2 | 72.6 | 70.9 | -13.4% | -2.2% |
| Dept. of Education | 64.0 | 71.7 | 66.9 | 68.2 | 64.4 | -10.2% | -5.6% |
| Social Security Admin. | 11.1 | 12.4 | 10.8 | 11.0 | 10.8 | -12.7% | -1.8% |
| Other Independent Agencies | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 1.8 | -35.4% | -21.0% |
| Scorekeeping adjustmentsa | -1.3 | -1.5 | -6.3 | -6.4 | -6.6 | 348.5% | 3.3% |
| Bill total | 163.1 | 182.5 | 156.8 | 159.8 | 153.1 | -16.1% | -4.3% |
| Program integrity (outside Budget Control Act caps) | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 173.4% | -1.9% |
2 comments:
The Agency is currently undergoing a massive effort to downsize the footprint of their offices. This will be by combining with DDS offices and more work at home and sharing office space. This alone should save a lot. Real estate is a high dollar item in the big cities.
It seems clear that the Republican-proposed budget would inevitably result in a reduction of SSA service to the public and increased waiting times. This at a time when everyone agrees that the agency needs more resources for services and waiting times are way too long. I'll save a copy of this to send to clients who complain about how long it is taking to get their claim decided, so they know who to blame.
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