Letter to House: Continuing Resolution (CR) for Fiscal Year (Fy) 2025

The Honorable Mike Johnson
H-232, The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries
H-204, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Tom Cole
H-307, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Rosa DeLauro
1036 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Robert Aderholt
266 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Speaker Johnson, Democratic Leader Jeffries, Chairman Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro, and Chairman Aderholt:

On behalf of the millions of members and supporters of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, I am writing to ask that you provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) a rate for operations of $15.4 billion in the Limitation on Administrative Expenses account in a future Continuing Resolution (CR) for fiscal year (FY) 2025, or in any other appropriate legislative vehicle. We also request that you provide the Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) a rate for administration of $5.27 billion in a future CR for FY 2025, or in any other appropriate legislation. Members of the National Committee come from all walks of life and every political persuasion. What unites them is their passion for protecting and strengthening Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the other programs that are so vitally important to older Americans.

We understand including anomalies in any temporary appropriations legislation is challenging, but the deterioration of service delivery at the Social Security Administration if additional funds are not provided fully justifies this funding. SSA continues to face increasing workloads across its operations, and call volume typically peaks during the first quarter of the fiscal year. Without the anomaly, SSA will be forced to operate with the lowest staffing levels in more than 50 years, resulting in further service deterioration. SSA would be required to reduce funding for core information technology operations including SSA's network support. In addition, SSA would likely reduce the hours field offices are open to the public and would need to close field offices over time, extending wait times for seniors and individuals with disabilities.

SSA requires additional funding over FY 2024 just to cover increases in fixed costs, which average $600 million annually. These fixed costs include salaries, rent, guards' services, the cost of medical evidence, and all other costs required to provide service to customers in more than 1,500 field and hearings offices across the country, as well as the State Disability Determination Services.

Unfortunately, SSA has been seriously underfunded for many years, an intolerable situation at a time when 10,000 Americans are reaching age 65 every day. The result has been significant and growing backlogs of work, especially in the disability offices where an estimated 30,000 Americans died in 2023 alone waiting for disability decisions. The ongoing funding shortfalls are especially frustrating when one considers that the source of funding for SSA's operations comes from the Social Security Trust Funds themselves, not general revenue - and that contributions from American workers have built up a $2.788 trillion surplus in these accounts, in addition to about $1 trillion received in Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) contributions each year.

The agency and its employees have done an extraordinary job of making the most effective use of the dollars they have been appropriated, however, there is only so far SSA can go without a meaningful infusion of resources. This critical lifeline for millions of Americans must not be allowed to wither on the vine. Ultimately, SSA needs sustained, sufficient funding to improve service to the public, however, the anomaly level in FY 2025 would at least allow the agency to sustain service by maintaining FY 2023 staffing levels and critical IT investments.

While not included in the Biden Administration's anomaly requests, we believe that funding CMS at the amount requested for FY 2025 by the President should be a priority. Considering present policy assumptions impacting CMS and the potential for flat future annual appropriations, CMS's budget deficit will likely continue to grow annually. In FY 2023, CMS's total administrative costs were $11.62 billion, or 0.67 percent, of the total obligations of $1.75 trillion. Over the past few fiscal years, CMS has experienced cost growth for ongoing workloads, primarily due to inflation, in addition to unfunded new workloads (Executive Orders, new legislation, and other priorities, etc.). CMS's requested budget is needed to maintain the operational integrity of CMS programs and to successfully achieve the agency's goals to advance health equity, lower costs, expand coverage, and improve health outcomes for all Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Thank you for your consideration, and we look forward to working with you to ensure sustained investment in programs and agencies crucial to seniors.

Sincerely,

Max Richtman
President and CEO

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