REED QUESTIONS ADMINISTRATION ON SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY INSOLVENCY

Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc.

Tom Reed questioned Treasury Secretary Jack Lew this week during a hearing of the Ways and Means Committee on the President's Fiscal Year 2015 Budget. Reed focused his questioning on the insolvency and impending bankruptcy of the Social Security Disability Insurance program and how the Administration will address the issue.

"What concerns me the most about Secretary Lew's testimony is that he did not seek to address or even mention the forthcoming insolvency of the Social Security Disability Insurance Program two years from now in 2016," Reed said. "What's more is that the President failed to directly address the issue in his budget - that's not leadership. There are nearly 30,000 disability recipients in our district alone who could be facing an unfair 20 percent decrease in their benefits. I care about these individuals who will wake up one day in the not so distant future to see their benefits significantly decreased."

The Social Security Administration Trustees 2013 report projects trust fund depletion in 2016 for the Disability Insurance program. According to the report, the program "satisfies neither the Trustees' long-range test of close actuarial balance nor their short-range test of financial adequacy and faces the most immediate financing shortfall of any of the separate trust fund."

"The response I heard from Secretary Lew in regards to the imminent insolvency of the program is that the Administration's answer is to reallocate funds from the Social Security program, threatening the solvency of that program, in order to make the disability program solvent in the short term," Reed continued. "It does not make sense to take from one program to give to another. It sounds to me like just another Washington, DC, kick the can band-aid, not a solution."

Recently the Social Security Administration Inspector General uncovered a $30 million disability insurance scheme in New York City which involved over 200 individuals. The Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security has been active on highlighting the issue and how fraud can be reduced in the future.

Reed says cracking down on the serious fraud and abuse is a huge project that needs undertaking: "I am interested in finding ways to strengthen the programs by reducing the backlog of disability reviews and cut down on waste and fraud, such as what has been recently uncovered in New York City. Now is the time to root out that significant fraud and put millions back into the program where it belongs."