Since the beginning of the federal Fiscal Year (FY) on October 1, 2023 the Social Security Administration has been operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) that allows the agency to spend money at the rate they spent it in the prior FY. This is because Congress, or to be more accurate, the House of Representatives, or to be more accurate still, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives can't agree on what they want in several FY 2024 appropriation bills, including the Labor-HHS bill that includes Social Security's administrative budget. Congress is now kicking the can down the road with a new CR on the Labor-HHS bill that goes to March 22. There's a solemn promise from Congressional leaders, including Republican leaders, that they'll get it done by March 22 but don't count on that holding. It's impossible to overestimate the dysfunction within the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. A sizable number of them would never vote yes on any Labor-HHS appropriations bill. Even if they got everything they wanted, they'd still vote "no" since they'd believe they didn't ask for enough!
Didn’t Bill Clinton make SSA an independent agency?
ReplyDelete@10:51am,
ReplyDeleteYes. However, it is still limited by the LAA (limitation on administrative expenses) that has to be approved by Congress.
And, therefore, SSA's budget remains stuck in the larger Labor-HHS bill.
Congress could change this, of course, but don't hold your breath for them to do so.
The status quo makes it easier for them to politically avoid any responsibility for having to deal with SSA's problems independently (i.e. out of sight, out of mind). It also allows them to avoid having to live up to any of their campaign promises regarding the agency and its programs.
@10:51
ReplyDeleteYes, but they need to have their budget authorized by Congress. Also, while SSA is more independent than a lot of independent agencies in terms of funding, there are some areas which come from outside the trust funds. Research and IT modernization for example.