One hundred and six (if I've counted correctly) members of Congress have signed a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee having jurisdiction over Social Security asking that the Social Security Administration receive the full funding requested by the Biden Administration for the next fiscal year.
Whatever a bureaucracy gets will never be enough. I wonder if anyone has looked at cutting waste. Almost every day we get stacks of mail from DDS. Often there are many large envelopes containing only a few pieces of paper. These are typically copies of documents sent to claimants. These could all be placed in one envelope and I'm sure there would be a significant amount of savings in postage. Or, better yet, they could send them by email. Actually, since we can access the ERE now, they could just send an alert by email that new documents have been added. This could easily be automated. It may not seem like much but, in the aggregate, I'm sure the savings would be significant. And, I"m sure that there or other obvious sources of waste and inefficiencies, some may seem small but when they are all considered, the amount is probably significant. While I don't dispute the agency has significant needs, before I want a lot more tax dollars thrown at it, I think the agency should demonstrate that it is cutting waste and operating efficiently. That is far from the case now. As long as they have an unlimited funding source from Congress, they have no incentive to be efficient.
ReplyDeleteEmail isn't considered secure.
DeleteI'm guessing there is a legal requirement to mail notices.
You'd think there could be some programming done so letters to attorneys could be batched. In the big picture that's peanuts.
Just folding those in half would save millions. I actually suggested it about 15 years ago and they shut the suggestion program down
ReplyDeleteSaving money is a great idea but more staff is key. However, I need 5 journeymen CSs NOW. I have too many trainees and we can’t get anything done. It will be years before we’re good. And in the interim they’ll just pile more and more on to our plates.
In other news, man stands on porch and yells at tornado. Both have had the same impact.
ReplyDeleteKudos to the Democratic Party for solving the problem of the SSA operating budget back in 2021 and 2022, when they had the Presidency and both branches of Congress! Oh. . .wait. . .
ReplyDeleteOh, you mean when republicans threw a tantrum and used the threat of filibuster to obstruct the democrats’ efforts to fix the funding shortfalls caused by the orange clowns tax cuts for the rich?
DeleteYo can't filibuster an appropriations bill... so, the Democrats could have funded SSA much more. But, Green New Deal stuff was more important to them.
DeleteYou only need a majority to pass funding bills and there's no filibuster for them.
DeleteRight, Tim. Democrats were just too woke or so. It totally had nothing to do with the votes of all those GOP senators who joined with Manchin and Sinema to block democrats’ efforts to fund the government adequately.
DeleteDid the Democrats make ANY effort to increase the SSA Operating budget? I don't mean one or 2 people
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