Statement by Kilolo Kijakazi, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, on the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget
Reading Time: 3 MinutesLast Updated: March 9, 2023
The Biden-Harris Administration today released the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2024. The Budget details a blueprint to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out, lower costs for families, protect and strengthen Medicare and Social Security, and reduce the deficit by ensuring the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share—all while ensuring no one making less than $400,000 per year pays more in taxes.
“Our programs affect individuals throughout their lives: from birth, to entering the workforce, to facing a disability or loss, and to retirement. The broad and critical nature of our programs drives our request for the resources necessary to improve our service to the public.”
The President’s FY 2024 Budget request for the Social Security Administration (SSA) proposes $15.5 billion in discretionary budget authority. The Budget will:
Improve Service Delivery: The Budget provides an increase of $1.4 billion, a 10-percent increase over our FY 2023 enacted level to improve customer service at our field offices, State disability determination services, and teleservice centers for retirees, people with disabilities, and their families while maintaining the integrity of our programs. Each year, we process more than 6 million retirement, survivors, and Medicare claims and more than 2 million disability and SSI claims. The Budget supports increased staffing levels from FY 2023, allowing us to process about a half million more disability cases in FY 2024 than we completed in FY 2022 and significantly reduce wait times for those decisions.
Advance Equity and Accessibility: We are one of the most important anti-poverty programs in the country. We remain committed to administering our programs in a way that promotes equity and fairness. We are making it easier for people to access the services they rely on, including individuals experiencing homelessness, children with disabilities, and people with mental and intellectual disabilities. The Budget makes investments in these areas to support SSI outreach work, including collaborating with government agencies and other third-party organizations in local communities to provide convenient access to our services and ensure members of the public are aware of their potential benefit eligibility.
We are also committed to enhancing the diversity and richness of our workforce to strengthen and maintain an inclusive work environment that values individual differences and treats employees with dignity and respect; thereby, enriching our current workforce, which is driven by our public service mission. This Budget continues our efforts to hire and promote the Nation’s best talent and build a diverse and representative workforce and ensure that all employees have equal opportunities to advance in their chosen careers.
Modernize our Information Technology: The Budget continues investment in our information technology (IT) to reduce the burden on the public, modernize our website and online services, and provide an improved customer experience. To accelerate our progress, the Budget includes $50 million in dedicated no-year funding for our Benefits Modernization efforts. Our Benefits Modernization efforts will provide our employees with better technology tools to determine eligibility and process claims in order to better serve the public. The Benefits Modernization project is in addition to the efforts we are taking to sustain our systems.
Provides National, Comprehensive Paid Family and Medical Leave: The vast majority of America’s workers do not have access to paid family leave, including three out of four private sector workers. Among the lowest-paid workers, who are predominantly women and workers of color, 92 percent have no access to paid family leave through their employers. 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. 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.
Building on the President’s strong record of fiscal responsibility, the Budget more than fully pays for its investments—reducing deficits by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade by asking the wealthy and big corporations to pay their fair share.
For more information on the President’s FY 2024 Budget, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/.
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MajJohn
You should say if you find the information truthful. The SSA should stay out of the political fray.
Dan C.
Anyway you look at it, the middle class will be footing the bill. Take a real look at the rich, the super rich and see how much they actually pay! Lawyers and loopholes are what they have! We need a real change in our government!!!
Sir L.
How can these impossible dreams of the leftist Chinese Democrats be realised when the banks are falling and bankrupt? If banks are bankrupt, it is an internationally visible issue that the account holders, ie, voters, are bankrupt from the Biden administration deliberate destruction of the economy. Printing more useless and worthless fiat currency does not change anything either, even creating a larger bill denomination is typical of all bankrupt cloptocracies.
Marianne
Glad Biden Administration is smart on investment in vital American workers, much needed infrastructure upgrade, and kind to seniors and disabled. Why not be fair to workers getting a decent life which pays taxes which big corporation uses to make their profits? Call their bluff!
Bob A.
“Discretionary spending” is this president’s way of saying he’ll spend it on other things besides social security…. The commissioner is obviously trying to put lipstick on this president’s pig of a budget.
Roro
I no agree
Roro
I agree
Michael S.
The president’s “strong record of fiscal responsibility.” What president are we talking about, because it ain’t biden.
Wendy L.
I agree Just gave the Billionaire’s Silicone Valley A Bail out and Lied
Again
Tony
Everyone knows it was a bail out for the rich.
The deposit fees the bank pays was only to insure up to $250K. But Biden twisted it to say it wasn’t going to cost taxpayers because it will come from the fees collected.
The fees collected were to pay out $250K per deposit account and not millions of dollars per deposit account. He is using up all the fees collected to bail out the two crooked banks.
The FDIC collects some much fees where we make near 0% interest on our bank saving accounts. Now they want to use all those fees collected to bail out two crooked banks.
MajJohn
It’s a backdoor attempt to nationalize the banks.
Bob
Seems he left out this part (from the CBO Report)
The largest effect was
a $307 billion net decrease in projected outlays for Medicare from 2023 to 2032. The main contributors to that decrease were pricing reforms for prescription drugs, which CBO estimates will reduce prescription drug spending in Medicare Part D and Medicare Part B.
That decrease was almost entirely offset by increases in projected outlays for other programs over the 2023– 2032 period, including the following:
• $80 billion from increased funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for enhancing tax enforcement and taxpayer services;7
• $76 billion from provisions related to natural resources and the environment, including provisions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fund agricultural and forest land conservation programs;
• $36 billion for refundable tax credits for clean energy production and carbon sequestration;
Laurie
Stop whining. The Republicans will raid the entire program when they get in
Roro
Get your head out of the sand
M R.
oh dear Laurie, the republicans or dare I say the Patriotic Americans who love this Country will not raid anything, I would say the disgusting rhino’s perhaps. But hey, if you don’t like it here in the USA, you are more than welcome to go anywhere else. Lets get something straight, shall we, Your Freedom’s are at stake here with this administration. They really don’t care about you, but I do, I certainly care that you really take a look at things, maybe start by reading some of the Executive Orders that biden signed. They hurt all of us. All Americans. So it’s time to wake up darling girl!
Christina A.
You are so right on! I feel the same way you do! Thank you for voicing your opinion!
james
Pay no attention to all this disinformation, Kilolo was told to say these things by the biden 2024 campaign committee.
These politicians never act in our best interests.
Jose L.
YOU ARE 100% CORRECT
Roro
100% agree
JENNIFER
Yes I totally agree with you
Wendy L.
No they don’t
Stephen
Lift the cap
Initiate alternate sources of income
Add I dollar to every airline ticket
Toll roads to support social security
Leave something in the will
Lottery specifically for social security
With all these think tanks no one can figure out how to keep
Social security solvent
Wm. V.
whether the Administration does or don’t, it really depends on whether the Republican house works for the American people. be honest with yourself as long as there are rich people there’s always going to be loophole, so move then out your mind and pray the Republican don’t get rid of Social Security. that’s the real issue!!! maintain. if the administration does this, we’ll be ok. yes, “the proof in the putting”. just get a bone can’t always have meat with your dinner!!!
Dennis
No tax increases for those making less than $400K? But, 90% of households got a back door tax increase when this administration eliminated charitable deductions for those who take the standard deduction. This also de-incentivizes contributions to charitable organizations, which is not desirable. Champion of the little guy? Phooey! Don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do.
don j.
agreed 100% he’s nothing but a blowhard!