Social Security beneficiaries at risk of delays amid GOP funding fight

(The Hill) -- Social Security beneficiaries could face longer wait times for service next year unless Congress agrees to the White House budget office’s request to increase funding for the Social Security Administration (SSA), the administration that runs the program is warning.

House Republicans balked at increasing funding for the Social Security Administration in the continuing resolution passed in September, which forced it to implement a hiring freeze last month.

As a result, the agency will soon reach a 50-year low in staffing despite having to provide service to a record number of beneficiaries. This means that customers will experience longer wait times on the phone or online when trying to resolve problems.

While the funding freeze will not result in a cut in benefits, it will take the agency longer to process claims and to otherwise address customers’ problems.

“If SSA does not receive increased appropriation through March, over 2,000 additional employees will be lost through attrition in the next three months, including experienced staff,” the Social Security Administration said in a statement to The Hill.

“Customer service will decline as wait times in our field offices and on the 800 Number increase, backlogs grow, and customers experience further delays in waiting for their claims to be processed,” a spokesperson for the agency warned.

The Social Security Administration under the leadership of former Commissioner Martin O’Malley increased its productivity this year, clearing more initial disability cases than it had received for the first time in many years, and lowering wait times on its toll-free number.

But those gains in efficiency are likely to slip if Congress keeps funding flat.

“Under the existing Continuing Resolution (which did not include the Administration’s requested anomaly) the Social Security Administration was forced to institute a hiring freeze on Nov. 21,” the spokesperson said.

“Many of the gains we’ve experienced will be lost under continued flat funding,” the spokesperson warned.

Other federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Aviation Administration, have also warned they will have to freeze hiring unless Congress agrees to similar funding bump-ups for them in the next continuing resolution.

Lawmakers need to pass a stopgap spending measure by Dec. 20 to avoid a government shutdown.

If lawmakers on Capitol Hill again decide to keep the Social Security Administration’s funding flat in the three-month stopgap funding measure it passes later this month, agency employees would likely face up to 10 days of furlough. That could force offices to close and would likely reduce service levels.

“This means our field offices, card centers, and the national 800 number would have reduced levels of service and further delay critical services that the public depends on,” the spokesperson said.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, warned that Social Security beneficiaries will feel a negative impact if funding is kept flat.

“The Senate Appropriations bill provided a bump-up. The House Appropriations bill cut them quite a bit,” he said.

“It would be terrible if they have to furlough staff. We should not be cutting the Social Security budget. It just makes it harder for Americans to get their benefits,” he said.

“It means that customer service goes way down. I don’t know why anybody would support that,” he added.

As of October, it usually takes between six and 10 months to get a hearing on a claim, according to the agency’s website.

The Social Security Administration says that if it receives the funding cut proposed by the House, which would reduce its budget to $401 million below its fiscal 2024 operating level and $1.6 billion below President Joe Biden’s request, that would significantly degrade services to the public.

“We could be forced to shut down offices due to furloughs for SSA employees of up to 20 business days before October. Backlogs and wait times would grow dramatically, with customers waiting months longer to get many services,” the agency spokesperson warned.

A funding cut would delay people’s access to benefits as well as to non-Social Security Administration services and benefits that depend on the agency’s work, such as the issuing of Social Security numbers, replacement cards and access to Medicare benefits.  

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he hasn’t tracked the battle over spending but acknowledged it’s “generally not a good thing” if a funding squeeze means seniors and people with disabilities need to wait longer to get their claims addressed.

“I need to look at it,” he said. “See what minimally is necessary.”

House Republicans are pushing back on claims that the Social Security Administration is facing a dire situation.

They note that the agency received a $100 million increase for fiscal 2024 and that the stopgap spending measure passed in late September “continued” that funding increase.

And they argue the Biden-Harris administration’s request to increase the agency’s funding by more than $1 billion going forward is “unsustainable and could lead to significant reductions in other non-defense discretionary areas.”

One Republican aide who pushed back on criticism of sticking with current funding levels for another three months said any “unsustainable” increase in the Social Security Administration’s budget could impact other priorities such as child care, medical research and public health initiatives.

A Republican senator who was asked about the request for more funding said that too many of the agency’s employees are working from home.

“Is this the administration that just negotiated a deal to allow 91 percent to stay out of the office until 2029?” the senator said.

House Republicans point out that only 39 percent of Social Security Administration officials in Washington report to the office at least three days a week.

And they note that O’Malley signed an agreement before stepping down from his post that locks telework policies at the agency in place until 2029.

“They have the resources and should responsibly use the increase they’ve already been given,” said the Republican aide who called the Biden administration’s request for increased funding “unsustainable.”

The battle over funding increases for the Social Security Administration and other critical agencies in the next continuing resolution comes as the Trump transition team and Republicans in Congress lay the groundwork for President-elect Donald Trump’s new "Department of Government Efficiency," headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk and Ramaswamy held introductory meetings with Republicans on Thursday on Capitol Hill, and Musk said he wants to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget.