The National Treasury Employees Union has told the House Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee that "adequate funding" is needed to reduce SSA’s huge disability claims backlog.
The union, which represents about 900 employees in SSA’s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, puts the number of pending disability claims at 753,000 and says processing times have climbed to 512 days.
It called on Congress to provide more than $11 billion in fiscal 2009. The agency was funded at $9.75 billion this year after a $150 million increase for administrative expenses – meant to address the backlog.
The Federal Managers Association, which also has membership in ODAR, said last summer that $10.1 billion – in keeping with a budget framework outlined by the previous administrator – would enable the agency to reduce the backlog and not merely slow its growth at that point.
In responding to a recent GAO report calling for better planning, management and evaluation in the claims resolution process, SSA cited funding shortfalls as a major factor contributing to the backlog.
NTEU president Colleen Kelley praised ODAR employees but echoed the agency in saying they suffer from a lack of resources.
SSA asked GAO to look into ways to improve the performance of administrative law judges who adjudicate claims, and added that since 2001, Congress has appropriated about $150 million less each year than the White House budget request.
It said that from 1997 to 2006 initial applications for benefits grew by over 20 percent while the agency lost claims examiners in the state determination offices and administrative law judges and support staff in the hearings offices, and that a minimum increase of $300 million each year is required to support its infrastructure.
