Members of Arkansas’ congressional delegation are pushing for Social Security to change its guidelines on how to go about obtaining replacement Social Security cards.
According to a press release from U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Arkansas, current federal policy requires people to provide primary identification documents, such as a driver’s license, to obtain a replacement Social Security card. Considering Social Security offices have mainly been closed to the public since mid March due to the COVID-19 pandemic this makes obtaining a replacement Social Security card extremely difficult. Apparently Social Security offices in Arkansas are requiring people who are trying to obtain a replacement Social Security card to mail in their driver’s license for processing.
Obviously asking someone to mail in their driver’s license can cause a burden on people who won’t receive their license back for possibly weeks. A group of Arkansas congress members wrote a letter to Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul voicing their objection to this requirement. Below are portions of the letter as identified by the press release issued by Hill’s office.
“We write to request that you alter Social Security Administration (SSA) policy that forces our constituents to choose between violating the laws of the State of Arkansas or forgo driving themselves to important destinations, such as to work or to the doctor,” wrote Rep. Hill, Rep. Womack, and U.S. Reps. Rick Crawford (R-AR) and Bruce Westerman (R-AR) in an Oct. 8 letter sent to SSA Commissioner Andrew Saul.
“While we appreciate the need for caution to protect employees, this requires my constituents to spend weeks without a driver’s license or identification, which is not only inconvenient but in Arkansas it is also illegal to drive without a license on your person,” the lawmakers wrote.
Until the rules change people are forced to either wait until Social Security offices open up or go for weeks without a driver’s license until they receive it back in the mail.
