Larson Leads 152 Members of Congress in a Bipartisan Call for Increased Funding to Improve Customer Service at the Social Security Administration
Washington, D.C – Today, House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member John B. Larson, along with Reps. Doris Matsui (CA-07) and Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), led a bipartisan letter to House appropriators calling for the highest amount of funding possible for customer service funding at the Social Security Administration (SSA), including significant funding to restore customer service staff cut by the Trump Administration.
The letter highlights that insufficient staffing and funding are leading to delays when Americans are seeking their hard-earned benefits. A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reveals that, since President Trump took office, roughly 7,500 employees were cut from SSA, leaving the agency critically short-staffed and potentially causing lasting damage to the system.
“Americans earn their Social Security benefits over a lifetime of work, and they deserve timely, reliable assistance when they need help. The Trump Administration’s cuts to staff and services at Social Security are resulting in long delays and additional barriers to people’s hard-earned benefits,” said Larson. “Cutting service is a de facto cut to benefits and must end now. With 10,000 baby boomers becoming eligible for Social Security every day, Social Security is serving more people than ever with fewer staff. Congress must fund Social Security so it can meet the level of service the American people deserve. I will keep fighting to reverse these staffing cuts and invest in customer service so all Americans can access their earned benefits without delay.”
“Social Security is not an entitlement. It is a benefit Americans have earned and paid into with every paycheck," said Schakowsky. "Yet drastic cuts to the Social Security Administration are leaving seniors and people with disabilities waiting far too long to access their benefits. Too few staff and massive delays are simply unacceptable. We must provide robust, sustained funding to rebuild staffing, strengthen customer service, and ensure every American can get the benefits they’ve earned on time and without delay.”
“Social Security is essential for families across the country,” said Matsui. “But as demand has grown, years of underfunding and damaging staffing cuts have made it harder for the Social Security Administration to deliver the benefits and services people have earned. Congress must make a strong investment in the agency’s staffing and operations so it can meet the needs of the American people.”
Ranking Member Larson and Reps. Schakowsky and Matsui led 152 colleagues in their letter to House Appropriations Committee leaders:
“More than half of these staffing losses have been to frontline customer service employees and other positions crucial to ensuring that people can access their earned Social Security benefits. To partially mitigate the damage, the Administration has reassigned employees to backfill vacancies in field offices, the national 1-800 number, and other areas – but with inadequate overall staffing, backstopping holes in one area inevitably leaves gaps in other services,” the members wrote.
“As a result, our constituents who are seeking Social Security benefits and services continue to report alarming delays and logjams. More than half of seniors and survivors who scheduled an appointment with an SSA field office to file an application for benefits waited more than a month until their appointment,”the members continued.
Read the full letter HEREand below:
Dear Chair Aderholt and Ranking Member DeLauro:
We urge you to support the highest amount possible for the Social Security Administration (SSA) administrative budget, with significant funding increases directed toward substantially raising customer service staffing levels to reduce the unacceptable, excessive delays now faced by Americans who are trying to access their earned benefits.
Social Security is a cornerstone of our nation’s economic security. Almost all workers are contributing to Social Security and earning its benefits, and nearly one in 3 households include at least one person who receives Social Security. The incomeSocial Security provides is vital for retirees, families who have lost a breadwinner, and workers who have experienced a career-ending injury or illness. It is impossible to overstate Social Security’s importance to its approximately 70 million beneficiaries: for most older adults, its benefits provide their largest source of income.
Despite the strong level of public support for Social Security, years of underfunding during a time of rising need generated significant customer service challenges. Since 2010, the number of Social Security beneficiaries has increased by approximately 28 percent as the baby boom generation ages. Yet over the same period, SSA’s administrative funding for basic operations fell by approximately 23 percent, after accounting for inflation. On top of this, the Trump Administration has created a crisis by inflicting the largest staffing cut in the agency’s history, forcing out about 1 in 8 employees. More than half of these staffing losses have been to frontline customer service employees and other positions crucial to ensuring that people can access their earned Social Security benefits. To partially mitigate the damage, the Administration has reassigned employees to backfill vacancies in field offices, the national 1-800 number, and other areas – but with inadequate overall staffing, backstopping holes in one area inevitably leaves gaps in other services.
As a result, our constituents who are seeking Social Security benefits and services continue to report alarming delays and logjams. More than half of seniors and survivors who scheduled an appointment with an SSA field office to file an application for benefits waited more than a month until their appointment. More than 800,000 people are in a queue awaiting an initial decision on their application for disability benefits, and it will take SSA more than 6 months, on average, to make a decision – twice as long as in the past. These long waits can be particularly harmful for people of color, low-income applicants, and others who on average are less likely to have savings or other resources to fall back on. Thousands are dying while waiting for a decision on whether they are eligible for disability benefits, and many more have endured years without income, in the process often exhausting their life savings and even losing their homes.
Social Security, an earned benefit, is one thing the American people should be able to count on. A multi-year effort of sustained funding increases with restoration of adequate agency staffing is urgently needed for SSA to bring customer service back to acceptable levels. For example, dedicated funding provided by Congress for several consecutive years helped SSA reduce delays in disability benefit hearing appeals.
Social Security is essential to American families. We urge you to support the highest amount possible for SSA in FY 2027, with significant funding increases directed toward ensuring the agency has the staffing and resources needed to deliver the benefits and services that Americans are counting on.