John,

The Social Security Administration, which processes benefit claims, operates field offices, and provides customer service for people with questions about their Social Security, is funded by working people with every paycheck.

The same payroll contributions that fund Social Security’s benefits also fund the Social Security Administration, and it’s an extremely efficient program. While private retirement plans charge large administrative fees, Social Security’s administrative costs are just 0.6% of annual benefits. It’s a great deal.

But unlike our benefits, Social Security’s administrative funding is subject to the Congressional appropriations process―and as a result, Republicans who are frustrated by their inability to cut benefits have instead cut administrative funding, forcing office closings, long wait times, and worse service. Their hope is that by making it harder to access the benefits we’ve earned through a lifetime of hard work, they can drive down Social Security’s overwhelming popularity.

President Biden’s latest budget request reverses the Republican administrative cuts. This additional funding is essential to ensure that SSA can provide the American people with the highest quality service possible―service that we have earned and paid for. It’s our money―it’s time for Republicans in Congress to stop standing in the way.

Sign now: Tell Congress to swiftly fulfill President Biden’s request for additional SSA funding!

Social Security field offices are, along with post offices, the face of the federal government. In 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, Social Security offices assisted over 174,000 visitors on average every single day—over 40 million in just that one year.

Additionally, in that same year SSA received 145 million phone calls. That call volume jumped to 151 million calls in fiscal year 2020, far outpacing other agencies. (During that same period, for example, the Internal Revenue Service received 66 million calls.) While the reopening of the field offices may mean the call volume will grow at a somewhat slower rate it still is likely to continue to increase, as it did between 2017 and 2018 and between 2018 and 2019.

Despite its large and growing workload, SSA has been starved of staffing resources. Since 2010, its operating budget has gone down 14% (adjusted for inflation), while the number of Social Security beneficiaries grew by 21%.

In response to this squeeze, 68 field offices were closed. Additionally, SSA’s extremely out-of-date phone system continues to deteriorate, resulting in long waits, busy signals and dropped calls. The deterioration in service is the result of the extreme underfunding of the agency. Since 2010, staffing fell by 13%. Even more shocking, in 1985, SSA employed over 81,000 employees; today, it employs fewer than 60,000—despite the nation’s substantial increase in population generally and Social Security beneficiaries in particular.

That is the minimum that Congress should provide. In light of the many years of underfunding, the current rate of inflation, the loss of experienced staff (necessitating not only hiring but extensive training), the phone system deterioration, and the large backlogs, Congress must approve the President’s request!

Sign now: Tell Congress to fully fund the Social Security Administration!

Thank you,

Nancy Altman
Social Security Works