Top lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee are pressing Acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi to explain the steps she's taking to address long waiting lines at some offices around the country — which have included some individuals sleeping overnight and others fainting in the heat.
"After two years of field offices being closed to most visitors, many people are in urgent need of in-person service," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., and ranking member Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said Tuesday in a letter.
"However, due to COVID-19 safety precautions, the capacity in air-conditioned waiting areas and at service windows has been reduced, and when offices reach capacity, visitors line up outside," the lawmakers wrote.
The Social Security Administration must ensure that visitors to SSA offices "are served effectively and safely, and are not waiting in line outside in the summer heat in many areas of the country."
Neal and Brady said that while they appreciate the efforts SSA has taken to accept in-person visits and reopen field offices to the public in April 2022, "in some locations people have been standing outside in the heat for hours at a time, without the guarantee of getting their needs met."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Aging Committee Chairman Bob Casey, D-Pa., and 15 other senators called on the Social Security Administration in January to provide an update on its efforts to improve field office services amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In their letter, Neal and Brady cite news reports that have highlighted how, "in high-demand areas, many people, some of whom are elderly or have a disabling condition, have had to wait more than six hours in near 100-degree weather to get help, and in some circumstances, people have had to come back multiple days to get the service they need."
