FMA APPLAUDS SENATORS’ SUPPORT FOR FULL FUNDING OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION - November 28, 2006

A bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate signs onto letter urging Leadership and Appropriators to support the President’s budget request for SSA.

Alexandria, VA (November 28, 2006) – The Federal Managers Association commends the 54 Senators who signed onto a letter by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Me.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) asking for full funding of the Social Security Administration in fiscal year 2007. The move brings SSA one step closer to avoiding an agency-wide furlough.

In testimony before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security earlier this year, SSA Commissioner Jo Ann Barnhart repeatedly stated that the President’s proposed administrative budget request for SSA of $9.496 billion would provide the resources SSA needs to improve staffing shortfalls, reduce backlog, maintain service, and fulfill obligations. However, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $9.093 billion for fiscal year 2007, $54 million less than this year’s funding and $200 million short of the House Appropriations Committee approved level for FY07. In response, Barnhart sent a letter Senate Appropriators acknowledging an unavoidable 10-day furlough of all 65,000 social security employees should the Congress pass such a low level of funding.

In a letter to the Senate sent on November 16, FMA National President Darryl Perkinson outlined the consequences of underfunding the agency. “[I]f the funding levels are enacted, the current backlog of case files within the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) would continue to skyrocket. At the end of August, the number of hearing requests at ODAR totaled 723,000 and receipts continue to climb. If ODAR did not receive another request for a hearing, the current number of requests awaiting preparation would take 245 workdays or approximately one year just to be ready to be seen by a judge,” commented Perkinson.

The Snowe-Conrad letter spoke of the added responsibilities SSA has undertaken recently, without additional funding from Congress, including administering parts of the Medicare prescription drug program and new workloads related to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Protection Act. Amid these added duties, the continuing trend of funding shortages for the agency has led to a one-to-three replacement for every staff departure, reducing the quality of service the American people have come to depend on.

Commissioner Barnhart has made it clear that if the Senate Committee-approved level is enacted, the agency will be forced to furlough its employees for ten days agency-wide. SSA had budgeted for a one to three replacement level for FY06 and FY07, and the reduction would force the agency to cut an addition 4,000 workyears. In addition, the funding level provided by the Senate will result in a reduction in the number of continuing disability reviews (CDRs), from a planned level of 597,000 down to 111,000. This is particularly troubling as CDRs save the federal government $10 for every $1 spent as they ensure that beneficiaries are legitimately collecting benefits.

Perkinson went on to say, “Programs administered by the Social Security Administration provide benefits to more than 50 million Americans. The same citizens that threaten the viability of the Social Security funds, because of their sheer numbers, are approaching retirement age and are also more disability-prone. We, at FMA, believe that the level of funding approved by these committees falls too short of the mark for SSA to serve its customers efficiently.”