The President’s budget for the fiscal year beginning on October 1st of this year is out. It calls for a flat appropriation for the Social Security Administration, neither increased nor decreased from the current fiscal year. However, considering inflation, which is heading up significantly over the next year this would amount to a significant cut in the agency’s effective operating budget.
Don’t get too excited about the President’s budget proposal for it's merely a proposal. It’s up to Congress to pass appropriations acts. The problem with Congress is that Republican Congressional leaders aren’t all that much more interested in adequately funding the Social Security Administration than the President. The silver lining is that there probably won’t be an appropriation act covering Social Security until after the first of next year when a new Congress will be seated. That Congress may be more sympathetic to SSA than the current one.
For those of us on the inside, his budget also calls for a pay freeze, notwithstanding the inflation you mentioned -- but military pay increases of 5% to 7%.
ReplyDeleteHe seems to think that spending more money on the military and combat will compensate for and convince people that he doesn’t have such a tiny penis.
DeleteDon't begrudge the troops! Their pay raise doesn't take away from yours.
DeleteReal question: what does SSA need advanced funding for? We had Colvin’s computer system that went bust. They can’t update the DOT beyond the beleaguered step five. Even Frank’s big roll out from the last post is “on hold.” Can you blame Congress and the President?
ReplyDeleteThis really isn't surprising. SSA employees have been "asked" to do more work with less resources for quite a while. The current Congress is even less effective than in the past, as Speaker Johnson has yielded all power to the Executive Branch, but Congress has been unwilling and unable to make needed changes to Social Security for many years.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, this year there will be no shutdown come October, but even that is not guaranteed.
" In FY 2027, we are investing $2.7 million in technology that supports drafting dispositions for hearings, improving labor-intensive decision-making and drafting processes. This will shorten disability claims processing times and allow us to process more disability decisions."
ReplyDeleteLooks like DWs are on the block soon.
Lol! Every time SSA unveils new software, the work only gets more cumbersome and time consuming.
DeleteBelieving that SSA will ever buy or be able to create software that will make jobs obsolete is like believing that grandma’s relationship with that Nigerian prince is going to result in you getting a big fat inheritance.
They're gonna need DW to review any AI drafts for completeness. And then they'll segue the writers into other roles, like ALJs.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't think they're going to RIF any of them. They're just not going to replace them, DWPI will skyrocket (justifiably or not), and they'll squeeze for the rest of the administration.
DeleteLong--term, probably upskilling to SAA or Hearing Officers.
To be fair, neither party has been particularly willing to properly fund the SSA operationsYes, there have been myriad money wasters in updating computer systems and the database for Step Five but the core functions of SS, taking applications and processing payments, have been left to rot on a bipartisan basis.
ReplyDeleteFlat budget = cut, considering rising costs.
ReplyDelete