Printable Version
Social Security Office Closings Press Release
Monday, February 11, 2008
For Immediate Release
Don’t Close Social
Security Administration
Offices
Alliance for Retired
Americans Says Current Number of Offices is
Needed Now More than Ever
The
following statement was issued today by Edward
Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for
Retired Americans, in response to plans to
close Social Security Administration offices
around the country.
My name is Ed Coyle,
and I am Executive Director of the Alliance for
Retired Americans.
Thank you to AFGE,
not only for putting this event together, but
also for your commitment to seniors.
And thank you to Representative
Brian Higgins, who could not be here with us
today, for introducing legislation that would
help Social Security recipients.
I am pleased to be part of an
event that is so closely tied to the
Alliance’s mission.
The Alliance
brings together over 3.5 million retirees from
labor and community-based groups through a
grassroots movement to improve the health care
and economic security of older Americans.
Today, we have come together to tell
Congress to pass H.R. 5110, which Rep. Higgins
recently introduced.
The
President's budget does not sufficiently fund
the SSA Administrative Budget.
The
Social Security Customer Service Improvement
Act would require the Social Security
Administration Commissioner to submit the SSA
budget to Congress and the President without
revisions directly, so the President can't
revise it.
SSA would not be able
to close field offices until 180 days after
submitting to congressional committees a report
justifying the selection of offices for
closure.
These offices are necessary
because SSA provides essential services for all
Americans.
It maintains a record
of every worker’s earnings, which will be
used to calculate the amount of future Social
Security benefit payments for workers, their
dependents and their survivors.
All workers receive an annual
statement, which estimates the amount of the
Social Security benefits payable based on their
work history.
These statements
assist in retirement planning.
The Administration also processes
all activity related to claims for Social
Security benefits.
Social
Security employees respond to inquiries about
Medicare entitlement (including Part D
matters.)
It is essential that
adequate funding be available for the Social
Security Administration.
The
President’s budget proposal includes a 5.97%
percent increase in funding for FY 2009 for the
Social Security Administration.
The President’s budget proposal
is $100 million less than the SSA
Commissioner’s budget request.
Under the Higgins bill, Congress
would get the full request from
SSA.
That is an important point, because
a baby boomer turns 60 every 7.5
seconds.
With SSA already facing widely
reported backlogs with disability claims, this
is no time to close hundreds of field
offices.
We must keep local SSA offices
open to offer easy access to seniors who can't
travel longer distances or deal with the maze
of automatic phone calls.
Thank you,
everyone, for doing your part to increase
public awareness of this issue.
Contact:
Contact: David Blank (202) 637-5275 or dblank@retiredamericans.org