President Biden's 2025 Budget: Defends and Strengthens Social Security
Since its inception in 1935, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has continued to provide mission-focused services to American citizens through major life events with financial assurances during retirement, disability, and family losses.
President Biden’s 2025 budgetincludes a series of principles to protect and strengthen Social Security, including no benefit cuts or privatization, asking the highest-income Americans to shoulder their fair share of Social Security taxes, safeguarding the most vulnerable beneficiaries from financial hardship, and investing in staff and services at SSA.
The budget provides $15.4 billion in discretionary funding for SSA. The budget also provides $325 billion for a National Paid Leave Program that SSA will implement and administer. This will ensure the U.S. is globally competitive with other developed countries who have some form of paid family and medical leave.
Improves Service by Increasing the SSA Workforce
The budget specifically tackles priority challenges in the organization for meaningful and productive customer experiences.
The budget invests in staffing to improve customer service and alleviate workforce challenges of low morale and excessive caseloads. In the past several years, the number of SSA beneficiaries have increased; however, SSA did not see increased staffing levels to manage growing workloads. From 2010 to 2021, SSA experienced a 15 percent reduction in staff causing long wait times for disability claims processing, teleservice center call delays, and mounting backlogs. The budget increases staffing levels by nearly 1,700 new employees, which will reduce processing times for initial claims and hearings, alleviate disability backlogs, and improve teleservice center wait times.
Invests in Automation and Information Technology Modernization
The budget builds on the progress already made through systems modernization and technological improvements. SSA has increased digital services through a multi-year information technology modernization plan that boosted its online presence and expanded electronic services. The budget provides at least $1.5 billion for this effort.
Increases Funding for Program Integrity
The budget provides $1.6 billion for program integrity efforts in 2025 including conducting continuing disability reviews, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) non-medical eligibility reviews, supporting disability investigative units, and additional attorneys for fraud prosecutions. These initiatives allow the agency to take corrective action on incorrect or improper payments, reduce disability rolls based on medical improvements, and prosecute fraudulent activity within the programs.
Investments in program integrity initiatives gives SSA the ability to perform enforcement actions that will reduce fraud, waste and abuse.
Republicans’ Track Record on Social Security
The President bolsters SSA by increasing staff, improving technology, and ensuring advancements in customer services.
Alternatively, House Republicans, as recently as in their 2025 budget, continue to call for massive cuts to starve federal programs that provide Americans with the services they deserve and the benefits they have earned. These cuts hinder hiring at SSA, cut resources to administer programs, and undermine program integrity funding for medical and non-medical reviews. These cuts threaten the progress that has been made towards eliminating backlogs and reducing wait times for claims decisions.
Moreover, Republicans have a long history of demanding Social Security cuts that weaken the economic security of hardworking Americans. Over the years, House Republicans have offered proposals focused on cutting benefits by forcing workers to retire later, continue working through illness, and generally making it harder for them to be financially stable. Last year, nearly three-quarters of the House Republican Conference endorsed slashing Social Security benefits by an unconscionable $718 billion. It would be unimaginable for Republicans to evade and renege a sacred obligation to secure the financial futures of the American people who have worked all their lives and paid into an insurance program that protects them from poverty.