From Newsweek:
Customer services from the Social Security Administration (SSA) could be subject to delays in 2025 if [no additional] funding is agreed on by lawmakers before the end of the year.
The government agency was forced to implement a hiring freeze in November after Congress denied additional funding for the SSA in its September continuing resolution. ...
However, in September, House Republicans blocked what is known as a budget anomaly request by the Biden administration for an increase in the SSA's current 2024 annual funding level... . With a December 20 deadline set for another stopgap government funding bill, it remains to be seen whether the same request will be granted to fund the agency through to March 2025. ...
SSA spokesperson Mark Hinkle told news outlet Government Executive that, without the funding, the agency is being forced to "operate conservatively."
"We have been forced to restrict hiring to critical targeted areas and will not be able to invest in new information technology development," Hinkle said.
"In addition, we have reduced overtime to historically low levels and essentially have no overtime to serve the customers who are waiting in our lobbies late in the day or to clear workloads that we are unable to get to during core hours of operations." ...
The deadline for the next continuing resolution is December 20.
7 comments:
FO manager here …..historically low OT is not even scratching the service - barely had any last year and zero this year thus far. Also I’ve lost 40% of my employees with no replacements in sight . I suspect they’ll block the anomaly- meaning the American public will need to suffer needlessly. Wish I could offer better hope but honestly I’m embarrassed to tell the public the length of time needed for simple actions . It will be interesting to see what our newly nominated COSS will do to try to save this ship…..not particularly hopeful .
The Trump playbook is to destroy the agency and then use it as a pretext to privatize it. The talk now is that the USPS is on privatizing road and the would make his rich donors very happy.
How do you privatize SSA? How? Its the constant boogey man but nobody has ever come up with what this supposed privatization looks like.
There has been almost no overtime in PC7 since October. Critical workloads such as Court Remand cases, used to be worked on Saturday OT, to help with the backlogs. These Court Remand already sit for a year after the ALJ decision, before being processed to payment. It's only going to get worse.
In the meantime all we hear from Trump is whining about employees teleworking. Today he mentioned the union contract Commissioner O'Malley signed protecting current levels of telework, and vowed to take that to court.
Even if SSA telework is cut to zero that isn't going to help with the backlogs. We need overtime hours and more staffing
No OT therefore we work credit to try and make a dent in work but you quickly max that out and then you HAVE to take time off. And you start all over again.
We're down staff 30% since COVID and we'd instantly lose at least three more people if they ended telework. Each unit in our FO has only maybe 1-2 people that would make good trainers for any theoretical hires down the road, and they're the ones that are closest to retirement already. We could soon hit the point where the knowledge base in our (level 1) field office evaporates entirely.
Going appointment only threw us a lifeline and we've been attacking our backlog, but it comes at the cost of undeniably worse service and longer phone times. It also opens us up to whatever BS that Trump's hand-picked ghoul is going to use to justify closing FOs.
If I was in a small, rural field office right now I'd be checking real estate listings by the nearest level 1 office.
Not much in other media about this CR and time is ticking away.
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