Statement by Commissioner O’Malley on the President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget
Reading Time: 3 MinutesLast Updated: March 11, 2024
The Biden-Harris Administration today released the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Following historic progress made since the President took office—with nearly 15 million jobs created and inflation down two-thirds—the Budget protects and builds on this progress by lowering costs for working families, protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, investing in America and the American people, and reducing the deficit by cracking down on fraud, cutting wasteful spending, and making the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share.
Key investments focus on improving the customer experience, reducing wait times at all stages of the disability process and on our National 800 Number, modernizing our information technology, improving overpayment and underpayment processes, and advancing equity by increasing access to our programs.
The Budget makes critical, targeted investments in the American people that will promote greater prosperity for decades to come. At the Social Security Administration (SSA), the Budget will:
- Protect the Social Security Benefits that Americans Have Earned. The Administration is committed to protecting and strengthening Social Security and opposes any attempt to cut Social Security benefits as well as proposals to privatize Social Security. The Administration believes that protecting Social Security should start with asking the highest-income Americans to pay their fair share. In addition, the Administration supports efforts to improve Social Security benefits, as well as SSI benefits, for seniors and people with disabilities, especially for those who face the greatest challenges making ends meet.
- Improve Service Delivery. The Administration is committed to improving service delivery for the more than six million retirement, survivor, and Medicare claimants, as well as the more than two million individuals applying for disability and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) every year. The Budget requests $15.4 billion in discretionary budget authority—a $1.3 billion or 9 percent increase over the 2023 enacted level—to improve customer service at SSA’s field offices, State disability determination services, and teleservice centers for retirees, individuals with disabilities, and their families. The Budget also improves access to SSA’s services by reducing wait times.
- Advance Equity and Accessibility. This Budget ensures we will deliver accessible Social Security services to all eligible individuals, while maintaining rigorous stewardship and oversight of our programs. Our programs must reach underserved communities and people facing barriers to accessing our services, including individuals with low income, limited English proficiency, mental and intellectual disabilities, and those facing homelessness. The Budget also supports our efforts to simplify and update the SSI application processes and expand access to agency programs and services through our outreach efforts, particularly for underserved communities. We will improve our IT systems to provide a more consistent, equitable, and accessible experience for our customers; reduce burdensome manual processes for our employees; increase self-service options on our National 800 Number; and expand our cybersecurity program. Further, the Budget prioritizes preventing and resolving improper payments.
- Provide National, Comprehensive Paid Family and Medical Leave. The vast majority of America’s workers do not have access to employer-provided paid family leave, including 73 percent of private sector workers. Among the lowest-paid workers, who are disproportionately women and workers of color, 94 percent lack access to paid family leave through their employers. In addition, as many as one in five retirees leave the workforce earlier than planned to care for an ill family member, which negatively impacts families, as well as the Nation’s labor supply and productivity. The Budget proposes to establish a national, comprehensive paid family and medical leave program administered by SSA. The program would: provide workers with progressive, partial wage replacement to take time off for family and medical reasons; include robust administrative funding; and use an inclusive family definition. The Budget would provide up to 12 weeks of leave to allow eligible workers to take time off to: care for and bond with a new child; care for a seriously ill loved one; heal from their own serious illness; address circumstances arising from a loved one’s military deployment; or find safety from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking —otherwise known as “safe leave”. The Budget would also provide up to three days to grieve the death of a loved one. The Administration looks forward to continuing to work with the Congress to make this critical investment and strengthen America’s economy.
The Budget builds on the President’s record while achieving meaningful deficit reduction through measures that cut wasteful spending and ask the wealthy to pay their fair share.
For more information on the President’s FY 2025 Budget, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/.
Did you find this Information helpful?
Tags: Benefits, Presidential Budget, Service Improvements
See CommentsAbout the Author
Comments
Comments are closed.
Antonio P.
Commissioner O’Malleys’ propaganda statement is exactly in line with President Biden lies, lies, and lies. The United States is in ruins thanks to Commissioners like O’Malley and the rest of the current administration.
Deborah F.
Thank you, I was looking for a lace to write essentially the same thing. Must be nice when they are using our tax dollars for Biden’s campaign.
Cindy P.
I very much agree with Robert, Rich, and Bstirl and I certainly understand Shelley’s concerns. Social Security has become a blend of so many purposes, the original purpose is getting very lost. I always thought that Social Security is funded by employed U. S. Citizens that eventually move into retirement and believe they will have retirement benefits based on their contributions. That’s what I thought. I don’t feel entitled as some of our political leaders say, I feel I am getting a return on, what should be, a secure investment. Besides, I wasn’t given a choice as to whether or not I wanted to pay into Social Security; it was/is mandatory. Social Security has become a bucket that our government keeps taking a drink out of whenever they want/need money to pay for something. Between illegal immigration, government over-spending, inflation, forgiving student loans, taking care of every person that can’t/won’t take care of themselves, and so much more, the money has to come from somewhere and I believe Social Security is one those funding sources.
Jeff W.
This correspondence seems to be a direct violation oftheHatch Act of 1939,in that is using U.S. government employees and U.S. government equipment for clearly political purposes.
Deborah F.
Wonderful observation!
Robert A.
The primary responsibility of social security should be to administer for the benefits of qualified recipients. If Joe Biden wants someone to administer a fund for separate items like paid family leave and medical leave then he should separate that administration completely away from social security. All of this “blending” of services makes it easier to conflate and confuse costs and the possibility to shortchange social security increases.
Suzanne T.
I don’t know what to think about it all. I don’t post my ss#. If I don’t post anything I don’t.
Suzanne T.
I have never posted my ss number except from you
Suzanne T.
I don’t know if what I did or don’t.
Suzanne T.
I can’t work because of all my ailments. Cancer, trauma spine and disc disease, colon something bad with my colon, part of it has discolored. My face top has knots from the brain surgery.
Shelley
I find it hard to believe that inflation is down. I went to Walmart and bought one bag of groceries and it came to $71.00. Prices have doubled how am I supposed to live off of my Social Security Check and a small pension with prices so high. Now I heard that they want to add 50 cents to every package you have delivered to your house. We need less taxes, more money, and lower prices. There are billions of dollars sent to other countries and undocumented people coming here and getting free food, money, free housing and no one take care of us. I have been working since I was 16 years old and now I am retired and feel if things don’t get better I will have to get a part time job. I am 70 years old.
Rich O.
How many of those 15 million jobs were covid rehires? Now the Biden regime is using the SSA to push its lies.
Suzanne T.
Am I in trouble with my benefits?
BStirl
How can inflation be down 2/3s? It is at the highest levels in 4 decades…it may be down slightly from that HIGH.
Rich O.
Exactly, what propaganda