The Senate Appropriations Committee has released its draft FY 2023 appropriations bill covering Social Security's administrative budget. The Committee amount is $14.2 billion, an increase of $902 million over FY 2022. This is $800 million less than the President's request and $200 million less than called for by the House bill. It's not enough to cover the costs of inflation.
I don't know why but the Social Security Administration is a disfavored agency, not just by Republicans, but also by Congressional Democrats. Could it be that Congress is convinced that Social Security's only problem is making its online services a bit better and to convince the public to use them rather than to call or visit the agency? If so, that's a serious misunderstanding of the Social Security Administration. About all you'll ever be able to do online is to file claims and appeals. Helping people do that is a part of what Social Security does but the far more time consuming part is actually adjudicating those claims and appeals. Computers aren't going to do that work for the agency.
Here are a few excerpts from the draft report on the bill (begins at page 308):
- ...[T]he Committee encourages SSA to take any steps possible to limit the burden of overpayments on beneficiaries that were of little or no fault of the beneficiary, particularly those discovered years later.
- The Committee strongly encourages SSA to expand outreach to potential beneficiaries, prioritizing underserved communities and individuals most likely to need support. This could include grants to community-based organizations familiar with SSA programs for the purpose of assisting individuals with disabilities apply for benefits, including supporting them throughout the process.
- ... [T]he Committee directs SSA to report to the Committees on Appropriations within 60 days of enactment of this act detailing the agency’s plans for expansion of Express Services, including the expected timeline of such expansion, mechanisms for providing such services, and planned national availability and capacity.
7 comments:
Express Services as they are now in the FO are interviews that take 10 minutes or less to complete. Things like benefit verifications, SSN replacement cards or other less time consuming inputs.
Overall, the Express Services term was used to describe the online service options prior to the pandemic.
Same song and dance for us here in the field…DO MORE WITH LESS!
This is infuriating. Congress can (and does) magically manifest billions of dollars at the drop of hat for almost anything. But if SSA needs a few hundred million more (a virtual drop in the bucket relatively speaking) they all start clutching pearls and wailing about how could they ever justify such "out of control" spending. It's utter nonsense.
It's not that SSA is disfavored per se, rather that there is nobody (with the ear of Congress) pushing for a higher appropriation.
AARP is no longer an interest group, but instead a 3rd party insurance firm. So there are no lobbyists.
The White House has spent Biden's entire term ignoring SSA except to mandate outreach efforts that are costing the agency tens of millions with little to show for it. So no push from the WH.
And ACOSS and crew are in over their heads and spend 100% of their time bowing and scraping and ensuring that the agency's pronoun policies are in order. So no pushback there.
That's why the agency's appropriation is and will continue to be inadequate.
But in the end you will vote for the same old people in office and expect a different outcome.
“[Ford said] ".. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
"Odd," said Arthur. "I thought you said it was a democracy."
"I did," said Ford. "It is."
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going in for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Outreach?! Where? I guess I'm not getting out much! If the rosy paragraphs on the website that make it seem like all ya gotta do is call, then send in a doctors note, and within a week have benefits is the "outreach", it's misleading, untruthful, and reads like ya walk in the door, and walk out with a check. By NO means is that what it's like (add doctors, more doctors, maybe a lawyer, an appeal, maybe even another appeal...etc...etc... If SSA's (and related sites and publications) were realistic, we wouldn't be discussing much about this issue. Outreach? Am I missing something?
Outreach to try to generate new SSI claims, primarily. Think Vulnerable Population Liaisons in FOs, undeserved communities, and third party assistance from community organizations.
When I tell you that the agency is spending tens of millions on that annually to drum up a dramatically underwhelming number of new claims, that's not hyperbole.
It will be a huge scandal when/if the details do emerge.
Let's be honest. The money that it would take to make SSA efficient, and to modernize, is not going to be approved or passed through the Senate or the House.
Systems upgrades, massive amounts of overtime, thousands of new hires, training. Millions upon millions of dollars.
With the economy likely heading into recession this is not the time for a huge amount of spending on SSA.
SSA will continue to be underfunded for the foreseeable future. At least there is a little more overtime now than a year ago, we should be grateful for what we have.
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