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.
