An omnibus budget deal has been announced. It will probably be enacted shortly. Here's an excerpt from a summary of that bill:
Social Security Administration (SSA) – The bill provides $12.5 billion for the administration of SSA activities – a decrease of $ 60 million from the fiscal year 2016 enacted level. This funding will ensure those served by the program receive efficient and timely assistance and service. One-time costs for building renovations provided in fiscal year 2016 account for a majority of the decrease. The bill supports program integrity efforts at the fully authorized level of $1.8 billion, an increase of nearly $400 million over the fiscal year 2016 enacted level.
5 comments:
All things considered, I'd consider this pretty good news.
Good news. I will be curious to see if the funding cuts will hit CDRs and fraud investigations, administrative personnel, or a mixture of the two. But as stated above, the cut is relatively minor in any event.
I hesitate to apply the word "good" to a plan that doesn't increase funding for staffing to address an appx. 18 month backlog for hearings. CDRs and fraud investigations are the ones getting the big boost in funding. The amount available for staff to address the backlog and customer service is being cut relative to last year, but not as much as some on the right would like. I think "could be worse" is the best description I could give.
The rationale for increasing money for CDRs is that you can "save" 3 times as much money as is "spent." However, to really justify that decision, you have to "believe" that people who "shouldn't have qualified" or have "improved" are currently receiving benefits. I think these people are willingly ignorant (dumb, on purpose!) of just how difficult it is to qualify, because they "want to believe" in the "fraud." Why? Because, if they allowed themselves to know what the disabled really have to deal with, including those who have been denied, their "Judeo-Christian" values wouldn't allow them to treat the disabled as "the scum" of the world. But, then again, we're talking about politicians... "When I'm not kissing babies, I'm stealing their lollipops!" (Hunt For Red October).
The goal of any agency should be to provide top notch service to the public. Until SSA/ODAR does a better job of getting rid of incompetent and lazy ALJ's and management jobs that are not needed that will not happen. And, that is sad.
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