[nfb-talk] Please Push Congress to Pass Social Security:

[Kenneth Chrane]

 URGENT: Ask Your Senators to Push for Adequate Funds for the Social
Security Administration (SSA)
 ================================================================================================= Take Action! Visit this page: http://capwiz.com/thearc/utr/1/CVSHHHKHBU/DIAHHHKOEI/1250594626] Background People with severe disabilities are dependent on the SocialSecurity Administration (SSA) to promptly and fairly process theirapplications for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Securitydisability benefits for their basic economic survival. Under thecurrent budget situation, people with severe disabilities haveexperienced increasingly long delays and decreased services inaccessing these critical benefits. Processing times, especially at thehearing level, have reached intolerable levels with claimants waitingas long as three years just to receive a hearing. The main reason forthe increase in the disability claims backlogs is that SSA has notreceived adequate funds to provide its mandated services. In everyfiscal year since FY 2000, Congress has appropriated less than both
 theSSA Commissioner and the President have requested.SSAâ?Ts administrative funding shortfalls have resulted in growingbacklogs in initial and hearing decisions on disability claims, thelargest in history, that have been described by Members of Congress asâ?otragic,â? â?ounconscionable,â? and â?oanunmitigated disaster.â? The impact of the delays on individualswith disabilities has been extremely detrimental. Behind each numberand claim is an individual with disabilities whose life is comingunraveled while waiting for his or her claim to be properly decidedâ?" families are torn apart; homes are lost; medical conditionsdeteriorate; once stable financial security crumbles; and manyclaimants die while waiting for a decision. Click here to readindividual stories on the effect the backlog of SSA hearings has had onpeople with disabilities from across the country.StatusThe Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and HumanServices, and Education is scheduled to mark up its
 appropriation billthis Tuesday, June 19.Take ActionPlease e-mail your Senators asking them to urge their colleagues on theAppropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education to support anappropriation for the Social Security Administration (SSA) for itsLimitation on Administrative Expenses (LAE) of, at a minimum, theamount allowed in the Fiscal Year 2008 Budget Resolution ConferenceReport â?" $10.1 billion. A sample e-mail has been provided.---If you no longer wish to receive e-mail from us, please visithttp://capwiz.com/thearc/lmx/u/?jobid=86549002&queueid=1250594626.