A group of senators is calling on senior lawmakers to restore $401 million in cuts to the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget for fiscal 2007.
The full Senate, when it takes up the Labor-HHS-Education fiscal 2007 spending bill could restore the funds cut by the Appropriations Committee. However, it does not appear that the bill will reach the Senate floor during this lame duck session of Congress, meaning that the departments funded through that bill likely will get interim funding through a continuing resolution lasting until sometime in early calendar 2007. Those measures usually carry tight funding restrictions, although an exception might be made for SSA.
Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., both on the Finance Committee, sent a letter endorsed by over 50 senators to Senate leaders warning that the shortfall could require SSA to lay off staff and could lead to service delays.
Approved in July, the bill would provide $9.1 billion for administrative expenses, $401 million less than the President’s budget request and $54 million below the fiscal 2006 appropriated level.
Current funding levels would likely lead to a 10-day furlough, and the National Treasury Employees Union warned in October that the agency would have to make other cutbacks in hiring, overtime and agency operations.
