U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, (D-New York) is advocating for more funding for Social Security’s hearing’s office in Syracuse New York.
Currently Syracuse has approximately a two-year wait for a hearing for disability claimants, and Schumer wants some of the $440 million in extra funding approved by Congress to go to reducing the Social Security backlog. In a recent story from the Syracuse Post-Standard, Schumer said the current staffing levels at Social Security are unacceptable and customer service is extremely lacking at Social Security.
“Central New York senior s and those waiting for a hearing are sick and tired of listening to hold music instead of speaking with a real live human being,” Schumer said.
The extra $440 in funding could be a shot in the arm for Social Security, which has seen its budget cut by more than 10 percent since 2010.
Unfortunately, the Syracuse hearing’s office is not unique as far as wait times go. Currently there are many hearings offices across the country that are averaging wait times of close to two years for a disability hearing. The Syracuse hearing’s office currently has more than 9,000 cases that are pending and waiting to be scheduled for a hearing.
The extra funding of $440 million is certainly not going to fix the problem at every hearing’s office in the country. That amount of extra funding will not solve the entire problem, but the good news is people are starting to notice how inadequately funded Social Security really is. There are 67 million people in the United States who rely on Social Security benefits and many of these people can attest to the difficulties of accessing customer service at Social Security in an effort to inquire about benefits. Hopefully the recent dialogue about inefficient funding at Social Security will equate to some action.
