Office of Budget and Management Director Mick Mulvaney is clearly not a fan of the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. In a recent story published by CBS NEWS, Mulvaney went on record calling SSDI “a very wasteful program,” and claimed that Americans don’t think of SSDI as being a part of Social Security.
“Do you really think of Social Security Disability Insurance is part of what people think of when they think of Social Security? I don’t think so,” he is quoted to have said in the story.
This should sound alarm bells for anyone who receives SSDI benefits, a program that has provided benefits to disabled workers for more than 60 years. A major point to the story is where Mulvaney indicated, as President Trump has previously, that the Administration does not plan on taking away anyone’s Social Security or Medicare, a clear indication Mulvaney does not believe SSDI is part of Social Security.
Whether the OMB director believes it or not SSDI is a part of Social Security, hence the name Social Security Disability Insurance. The program, established in 1956 provides benefits to American workers who paid more into Social Security than they are ever likely to receive in SSDI benefits and people who have significant medical impairments that prevent them from working.
Not to mention, study after study has found very little “waste” and abuse within the SSDI program compared to other government agencies such as the Defense Department, but the administration wants to increase Defense spending significantly.
Fresh off a defeat of the disaster known as Trumpcare, administration officials are shifting their focus, but not the goal of going after programs that lower-income Americans rely on to survive. The Trumpcare bill would have decreased access to Medicaid and now the OBM director wants to cut SSDI benefits for a group of people who need it because they can’t work and are already living below the poverty line even after receiving SSDI benefits.
