Congressman Paul Tonko and 124 colleagues in the House Democratic Caucus sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) urging him to restore reasonable funding levels to the Social Security Administration (SSA) in the House Republican 2011 budget, and avoid shutting down the agency for the equivalent of one month this year.

“The Republican plan to cut billions from Social Security means unanswered phones, closed doors, and the halting of claims processing at field offices,” said Congressman Tonko. “In New York, 31,250 applications will not be processed, 64,955 babies will not get Social Security numbers, and over 440,000 seniors will hear nothing but a dial tone and see nothing but an empty building. The economy will lose millions of dollars. Never in the history of Social Security has there been a backlog of retirement and survivors’ benefit applications for a full month – but we are painfully close to the first.”

In a letter to employees last month, SSA warned that it may have to furlough workers if cuts to its budget are enacted into law. In their Continuing Resolution, Republicans have proposed cutting SSA’s administrative funding by more than 9 percent in 2011, from $11.8 billion in 2010 to $10.7 billion this year. In addition, the Republican proposal provides $1.7 billion less than SSA needs to keep pace with inflation and increasing workloads.

Click here to read the letter to Speaker Boehner.

In addition, Congressman Tonko submitted an amendment to the Continuing Resolution last month that would restore funding to the Social Security Administration in the amount of $500 million. The amendment was not made in order.

Last night, Congressman Tonko discussed the proposed cuts and Republican plans to privatize Social Security with more than 6,400 local residents during a telephone town hall meeting.

“The message I heard last night from our seniors is that we must protect and strengthen Social Security,” added Congressman Tonko. “If you work hard and pay your fair share, Social Security should be there when you retire. More than 50-million Americans receive Social Security benefits today – without it, nearly half of all seniors would live in poverty.”

                      # # #