Larson Opening Statement at Joint Subcommittee Hearing with Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O'Malley

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Commissioner O’Malley for being here today.

Commissioner O’Malley, I commend you on your leadership and look forward to continuing to work together to ensure the nearly 70 million Americans on Social Security continue to receive the benefits they earned. I applaud your quick attention to addressing the impact of overpayment collections on seniors and people with disabilities in a way that puts the needs of beneficiaries first.  

I also want to applaud President Biden for requesting $15.4 billion for the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget for 2025, a 9% increase over the 2023 level. We must ensure the Social Security Administration (SSA) has proper funding to address the customer service crisis.

Since 2010, SSA’s funding has dropped by 17% after adjusting for inflation, yet there are 21% more beneficiaries than there were 14 years ago, and 10,000 Baby Boomers become eligible for Social Security every single day.  

Due to this chronic underfunding, the agency’s staffing is on track to hit a more than 50-year low. The answer is clear: to serve the people, the SSA needs more funding. Yet, during last year’s appropriations process, Republicans voted to slash SSA’s budget by 30!

Republicans are starving the Social Security Administration, and we wonder why there are issues like backlogs, long wait times, and accidental overpayments.

The customer service crisis isn’t an accident and it is not mismanagement by a federal agency. Let there be no mistake – underfunding SSA is an attack on hard-working Americans’ earned benefits. Defunding SSA’s ability to process payments in a timely manner is a de facto attempt to cut benefits.

We do not need look hard to see that cutting benefits is Republicans’ true goal. Just yesterday, the Republican Study Committee proposed more than $1.5 trillion in cuts to Social Security, more than double what they proposed last year. Just last week, former President Trump called for cuts to Social Security benefits on national television and House Republicans have recently been pushing to pass a closed-door fiscal commission that would fast-track unamendable Social Security cuts to the floor for an up or down vote during the lame duck session! We don’t need to slash people’s hard-earned benefits. We need to act now to protect and enhance them!

Earlier this month, President Biden said he would protect and strengthen Social Security during his State of the Union address. His budget request calls for improving benefits for the elderly and people with disabilities, and a 9% increase in SSA’s funding to tackle the customer service crisis.

My bill, Social Security 2100, is cosponsored by nearly 200 House Democrats and would enhance benefits across the board, repeal the harmful WEP and GPO that penalizes public servants, cut taxes for 23 million Americans, and eliminate the dangerous five-month waiting period to receive disability benefits. It does this by making sure the wealthy pay their fair share. It scraps the cap on people who make more than $400,000 a year.

While Republicans are busy doubling down and trying to find backdoor ways to cut Social Security, Democrats are standing up and ready to enhance Social Security. Republican attacks on SSA funding are in line with the rest of their attacks on Social Security. It’s in line with the budgets they have proposed, with Trump’s call to cut benefits, and with their push for a closed-door fiscal commission.

Congress must adequately fund the SSA to improve services and reduce delays. The American people deserve better. They earned their benefits. We must ensure they can receive them.

Thank you.