Social Security Gets $509M Budget Boost in New Spending Bill

What You Need to Know

The Senate bill apportions $14.7 billion for the agency's expenses.
The House bill cuts the operating budget by $453 million.
The reconciliation process will likely take place after the November elections.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved $14.7 billion for the Social Security Administration’s expenses — an increase of $509 million over fiscal year 2024.

The boost “will help SSA address service delivery challenges and improve services for Americans across the country — from filing for benefits to getting a replacement Social Security card to calling with questions about benefits,” according to lawmakers.

The increased budget — part of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Fiscal Year 2025 Appropriations Bill — “will help reduce wait times for Americans simply looking to get the Social Security benefits they have earned,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement.

“Addressing backlogs in key workloads and wait times will require sustained increases to allow SSA to increase and maintain staffing and make needed IT improvements — and the new investments this bill delivers are a critical down payment to improve service delivery at SSA,” the lawmakers said.

Step in the Right Direction

The Senate bill “is a step in the right direction” and is better than the House bill passed July 10 “that cuts the SSA’s operating budget by $453 million below the fiscal year 2024 level and is $1.6 billion below the President’s request,” Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told ThinkAdvisor on Thursday in an email.

“While the Senate bill would increase SSA’s funding by $509 million over FY 2024, it still provides $800 million less than what the President requested,” Richtman pointed out.

“What SSA really needs — to reduce wait times at field offices, the toll-free phone number and adjudication of Social Security Disability claims — is an operating budget which is equal to the 1.2% of outlays that was historically provided before 2018,” Richtman continued.

“That’s the level of service the American public expects from SSA, and that’s why the National Committee will continue to fight for it in the FY 2025 appropriations process,” he added.

‘Barely’ Enough

The “largely Republican-controlled Congresses have starved the Social Security Administration for decades, despite the fact that neither Social Security nor its related administrative costs add even a penny to the deficit,” Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, added in another email.

What’s Next

As to reconciling the Senate and House bills, Dan Adcock, director of government relations and policy at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said there will be “no budget reconciliation bills this year.”

Both the Senate and House “have to agree to a budget resolution with budget reconciliation instructions,” Adcock said. “That does not usually happen when there is a divided Congress.”

What is likely to happen: “In September, before the start of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1, Congress will agree to a temporary continuing resolution that is likely to flat fund the day-to-day operation of government until the lame duck session or next year,” Adcock said.

“In an election year, members like to punt on making appropriations decisions for the full fiscal year until they know the outcome of the election,” he said.