Press Releases

(Washington, D.C.) - Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) calls on Speaker Boehner and House Republican leadership to tie Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) reform to any increase in the nation’s borrowing limit. For far too long, the debt ceiling has been increased without significant spending reforms.

Social Security Disability Insurance began in the 1950’s and has been growing ever since. According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), more than 4 million beneficiaries have been added to the rolls since 2001, and the SSDI Trust Fund is projected to exhaust its funds by 2016. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified cases of abuse, where healthy people are scamming the system and robbing taxpayers.

“Tying real spending reforms to increasing the debt ceiling should be Congress’ top priority this fall,” said Congressman Grothman. “It’s clear this program is unsustainable on its current path and is rife with fraud and abuse.”

“A lack of sustained oversight of the program has led to too many fraudulent claims,” Grothman said. “In 2013 alone, the SSDI program wasted over $1 billion sending the wrong payments to 36,000 people. Making crucial reforms is necessary if we want to see this program survive beyond 2016 and care for disabled Americans who are truly in need. This is an issue that I hope House leadership will take seriously and bring practical reforms to the table when increasing the debt ceiling later this fall.”

                                                                        Background

Social Security Beneficiary Statistics (Social Security Administration, Social Security Beneficiary Statistics, Accessed: 9/17/15)

The Number of DI Beneficiaries Has Increased Nearly Sixfold Since 1970: In 2011, the DI program provided benefits to 8.3 million disabled workers, nearly six times the 1.4 million disabled workers who received benefits in 1970. Including the dependent spouses and children of those workers further increases the number of people receiving support from the program in 2011 to 10.3 million. (Congressional Budget Office, “Policy Options for the Social Security Disability Insurance Program”, July 16, 2012)

GAO estimates that SSA made $1.29 billion in potential cash benefit overpayments to about 36,000 individuals as of January 2013. (GAO, Disability Insurance: Work Activity Indicates Certain Social Security Disability Insurance Payments Were Potentially Improper, August 2013)

U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman is serving his first term representing Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Contact his Washington, D.C., office at (202) 225-2476, or online at grothman.house.gov.

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