It is not a secret for how Republicans in Congress and some Republican presidential contenders in 2016 feel about the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. Republicans have already announced they want changes to the program because there is too much “fraud” within the system and they question whether if many on disability are just lazy people who don’t want to work. Knowing how they feel it will be interesting to see what actions they attempt to take in the future.
Republicans have already blocked any chance to transfer funds from Social Security’s retirement fund to the disability fund to extend the solvency of the disability program, which is expected to be depleted by 2016 even though the process of transferring funds between the two programs has occurred multiple times over the years on a bipartisan basis. It is a clear indication that the Republicans are interested in cutting disability benefits. Luckily, the Democrats are completely opposed to slashing the benefits of disabled Americans who are living near, and sometimes well below, the poverty level. The Republicans have said they want to improve the disability program with systematic changes, but they have not introduced one bill that would do this.
As far a fraud goes, despite the fact there is already a very small existence of fraud within the Social Security disability program, the Republicans are pressuring Social Security officials to use already scarce resources to go after fraudsters, which is likely to cost more than Social Security could ever recover. Is this cost effective? No, it is not.
As another important election season approaches it will be interesting to see if Republicans go out on a limb and suggest cutting money from the Social Security disability program. As we know, any suggestion to cut Social Security benefits, whether they be retirement or disability benefits can be political suicide.
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