From the New York Times:
... Social Security has closed 67 field offices since fiscal 2010 in rural and urban areas alike. For the public, the cuts have meant less access to field offices, and ballooning wait times in the remaining 1,229 offices and on the agency’s toll-free line. It also has meant long delays in hearings on disability insurance appeals and in resolving benefit errors. ...
From 2010 to 2018, Congress reduced the agency’s operating budget 9 percent in inflation-adjusted terms; at the same time, the number of beneficiaries rose 17 percent, according to agency data. ...
In March, Congress made a down payment on reversing years of cuts. Lawmakers ignored the Trump administration’s request for a small increase in fiscal 2018, instead raising the agency’s administrative budget by $480 million, or 4.6 percent. And in September, Congress overrode the administration again, approving a $40 million increase in Social Security’s operating budget for 2019 [which isn't enough to cover the agency's increased expenses due to inflation], rather than the cut of over $400 million proposed by the White House. For fiscal 2019, the agency’s operating budget is $11.1 billion. ...
The average wait time to see a claims agent in field offices was 26.5 minutes in fiscal 2018 — 37 percent higher than in 2010, according to the National Council of Social Security Management Associations, an organization composed of field office and telecommunications service center managers.
And the wait times can be much longer.
“People line up early at Social Security offices around the country,” said Christopher Detzler, who manages a field office in Vancouver, Wash., and is the council’s immediate past president. “Sometimes the lines wrap around the building, even for offices with more reasonable wait times.”
Contacting Social Security through its toll-free number can be difficult, and 15 percent of callers heard a busy signal when calling during fiscal 2018, according to the council. ...
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