From Michael Hiltzik writing for the Los Angeles Times:
Much of the news coverage of President Trump’s proposed 2020 budget, which was released Monday, focuses on two aspects.
One: It’s just a PR exercise, since presidential budgets never get enacted. Two: Trump’s demand for $8.6 billion to build his border wall sets up a new conflict with Congress and maybe another government shutdown.
What shouldn’t fly under the radar, however, are the huge cuts to social safety net programs embedded in the document’s 150 appalling pages. These include drastic reductions in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—which Trump always promised to protect from any cuts—and to food stamps, housing assistance and family assistance. ...
Trump would gut the nation’s disability programs by $84 billion. At least $10 billion of that would come from Social Security disability through changes in eligibility rules. Another $400 million would come out of the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget, which is already strapped for cash, in the next year alone. Beneficiaries could expect more busy signals on the phone lines and longer waits at Social Security offices. ...
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Yesterday's email from ACOSS:
A Message To All SSA Employees
Subject: Fiscal Year 2020 Budget
Yesterday, the President released his fiscal year (FY) 2020 budget request to Congress. I want to share some important information about that request, which affects us. The President’s Budget requests $12.773 billion for our administrative funding in FY 2020. This request is approximately level with our FY 2019 administrative funding and funds dedicated program integrity at the fully authorized level for FY 2020, which is an expected decrease from FY 2019 as we are now current with our continuing disability review workload. The Budget allows us to continue to focus on service and build on our recent achievements, such as reducing key backlogs, investing in our cost-effective stewardship efforts, and implementing our Information Technology Modernization Plan. The Budget also includes a request for the authority to offset some of our administrative costs by charging a fee for Social Security replacement cards.
We will provide additional details on this proposal in the coming weeks, and we will provide you more information on our FY 2020 budget request when it is released to Congress on March 18.
Nancy A. Berryhill
Acting Commissioner
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