http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/01/AR2007110102334.htmlBy Stephen Barr
Friday, November 2, 2007; Page D04
The Social Security Administration -- where staffing is at its lowest levels since the 1970s and the number of disability claims are at an all-time high -- got some hopeful news on its budget yesterday.
The House and Senate appropriations committees agreed to provide the agency with $9.9 billion for operations in fiscal 2008. That is $275 million more than the Bush administration requested and probably enough to keep Social Security from drowning, at least for the short term, in its growing workload.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is the chief sponsor of an amendment to increase Social Security's budget for next year. (Andrew Poertner - AP)
"It is good news," said Richard E. Warsinskey, president of the National Council of Social Security Management Associations. "It won't solve the backlog we have, but it will help address the backlog."
The funding increase is part of a huge spending bill that includes $150.7 billion for education, job training, medical research and social services. The bill is $9.8 billion above what President Bush requested, and his aides have predicted he will veto it.
So the agency's managers and groups that represent retirees are lobbying to hang on to the money. "If we end up going backward, we could get in trouble again," Warsinskey said.
About 746,000 cases are lined up for hearings on disability claims, and the average wait is 512 days. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), the chief sponsor of an amendment to increase Social Security's budget for next year, said the number of disabled workers drawing disability benefits has more than doubled since 1990, to 6.8 million from 3 million.
FULL story at link.