The Social Security Administration says it is making progress against the backlog of disability retirement applications but warned that the funding levels it received under the continuing resolution covering most of the government through March threatens that effort.
During fiscal 2008, Social Security hired 190 new administrative law judges, opened a National Hearing Center, eliminated virtually its entire "aged" case backlog of more than 135,000 cases waiting over 900 days for a hearing decision, and implemented a quick disability determination process in all states, which allows decisions in about eight days, the agency said. The disability backlog at the hearings level, which had been growing at the rate of about 70,000 cases each year for most of this decade, grew by only about 14,000 cases.
"The hiring of 190 additional ALJs was critical but will not yield immediate results," Commissioner Michael J. Astrue told a conference. It generally takes about nine months for new ALJs to become fully productive, and with attrition and experienced ALJs being used to train the new judges, the agency actually had 46 fewer ALJs available in 2008 than the prior year. Still, ALJs held more hearings and issued more dispositions than in 2007 and exceeded its targeted goal by over 16,000 cases, the agency said.
Astrue added that "the effects of an extended continuing resolution are clearly slowing our progress. We simply cannot address the challenges we face without adequate and timely funding. Many things we need to do, such as increase support staff and add new hearing offices, will not happen if Congress fails to pass an adequate appropriations bill by March."
