US President Joe Biden speaks during an event at the Royal Castle, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Warsaw, Poland, on March 26, 2022.
Aleksandra Szmigiel | Reuters
President Joe Biden’s proposed budget for 2023 aims to provide the Social Security Administration with more funding to improve services.
Some groups say the increase is not enough.
Biden wants to increase discretionary funding for the Social Security Administration in his proposed budget for 2023 at $1.8 billion, for a total of $14.8 billion. That represents an increase of about 14% over enacted 2021 funding levels for the government agency, which administers retirement, disability and survivor benefits for some 70 million Americans.
Under the proposed $14.8 billion budget, an additional $1.6 billion (also a 14% increase over 2021) would go toward improving agency services, while efforts to protect the integrity of the program would gain $224 million more than in 2021 .
Biden too looked for more money for Social Security last year, after proposing a 9.7% increase, or a total of $14.2 billion, for 2022, to help improve customer service amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. 19.
Proposed Changes to Social Security
The additional $1.6 billion for services would go to field offices, state disability determination services and teleservice centers. Additionally, the funds would also be used to add staff to help reduce wait times and expedite the processing of disability claims.
The proposal would also allow the agency to make changes to help ensure that everyone who needs its services can access them, including the homeless, children with disabilities, or adults with intellectual or mental disabilities.
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The $224 million increase from 2021 to protect the integrity of the program would bring the total to $1.8 billion. Those funds would ensure that the program provides the right benefits to those who qualify and that program funds are spent responsibly. That money would also go to help support the investigation and prosecution of the fraud.
The groups expected to see more
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare praised the proposed funding for the operations of the Social Security Administration, which “have been strained by the pandemic and more than a decade of Republican Party-forced spending cuts,” it said. on Monday the nonprofit advocacy group. .
The funding could help reduce customer service bottlenecks, including long wait times at the agency’s 800 number and for disability hearings, and help the agency reopen field offices that were closed. during the pandemic, he said.
However, the group also said that it hoped to see more in the budget.
“While we appreciate many aspects of the President’s FY2023 budget proposal, we hoped it would reflect efforts by Democrats in Congress to push Social Security forward, including a much-needed increase in benefits and a salary cap adjustment. payroll so the wealthy pay their fair share into the system,” Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said in a statement.
Valeria Macon | AFP | fake images
TO bill was reintroduced in Congress by Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., in October that would provide a benefit increase for new and existing beneficiaries equal to about 2% of the average benefit. In addition, it would also establish a higher minimum benefit for low-income workers.
That legislation also seeks to increase Social Security taxes paid by higher-paid workers by reapplying payroll taxes for those earning $400,000 or more. Currently, those 6.2% payroll taxes paid by both the employee and the employer apply only to wages up to $147,000 in 2022.
Biden’s new budget proposal also comes as the trust funds that Social Security relies on to pay benefits are projected to run out in 2034. At that time, 78% of promised benefits will be paid.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit organization, took issue with the fact that Biden’s budget did not address that.
“The budget does not go far enough to get the nation’s fiscal house back in order, nor does it address the tougher trade-offs needed to responsibly prevent insolvencies of Social Security, Medicare and the Highway Trust Fund,” said Maya MacGuineas, chairwoman of the Committee for a Responsible for the Federal Budget, said in a statement.