Labor & Employment Law

Republican Budget Cuts Would Shut Social Security Offices

By Mike Hall

In Washington, D.C., workers protested Republican budget cuts to the Social Security Administration that will lead to furloughs.

House Republicans want to slash funding for Social Security Administration (SSA) so deeply that the agency would be forced to shut down for the equivalent of a month with worker furloughs this year.

Today, 125 members of the House Democratic Caucus sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) urging him to restore reasonable SSA funding levels. Says House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Sander Levin (D-Mich.):

The Republican proposal to recklessly slash funding to the Social Security Administration jeopardizes its ability to get vital benefits into the hands of seniors and people with disabilities and provide assistance to the public. It is time for Republicans to abandon this irresponsible plan.

Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) says the ?Republican job-destroying spending bill” will:

shut down Social Security offices for up to a month this year.?If local Social Security offices are closed for business, nearly 700,000 new retirees, widows, disabled workers and children will be put in a backlog as phones go unanswered and claims go unprocessed.

Today we say to Speaker Boehner, restore funding in your budget for the Social Security Administration and cease-and-desist from this plan that would shut it down.

The SSA cuts are part of the Republican budget plan for fiscal year 2011. Currently the government is operating under a temporary spending measure that expires in early April.

Click here to read the full letter.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 16, 2011 (boomark / email).