As long as the Republican Party controls congress there does not seem to be any possibility that Social Security’s operating budget will be increased, which means wait times for Social Security disability hearings will increase further and customer service will decline yet to another level.
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that the U.S. House of Representatives is planning on approving a Social Security funding bill that offers no increase in the operating budget, but the Senate’s version of the agency’s operating budget actually proposes a $400 million cut, which equates to 4 percent less than current funding levels.
People ask all the time why wait times on decisions, hearings and payments from Social Security take so long. It’s really not that difficult to provide an answer if you consider Social Security’s caseload has increased by 14 percent since 2010, but at the same time the agency’s operating budget has decreased by 16 percent. Wait times for hearings have never been longer. Most jurisdictions are approaching, or even exceed, two years worth of waiting for a disability hearing. The majority of people who are waiting two years for a hearing are doing so without the ability to earn enough money to live on because of impairments they suffer. The lack of increase, or yet worse, the proposed decrease, in Social Security’s operating budget, shows congress just doesn’t care if things get worse for some of the most vulnerable Americans.
There is no doubt that these budget proposals from the Republican congress are directed at the Social Security disability program, which are impacted the most by a stagnant budget. It appears that it is the Republican plan to bleed Social Security resources in an effort to increase the frustration directly at the agency for its failures with the disability program, but ultimately Congress should be held accountable for failing to provide adequate customer service to Americans for one of the government’s most popular programs.
