Ways and Means member presses new Social Security commissioner to refocus customer service, modernize Ticket to Work and finish foster-care data exchanges

A member of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and chair of its Work and Welfare Subcommittee urged the newly confirmed Social Security commissioner at a committee hearing to refocus the Social Security Administration on customer service, modernize the Ticket to Work program and ensure statutorily required data exchanges with state child welfare agencies that track foster youth receiving benefits.

The lawmaker said the changes matter because the agency serves young people, seniors, disabled individuals and families who depend on timely and accurate benefits. "I look forward to hearing from you on your plans for refocusing the Social Security Administration on its customer service mission," the lawmaker said, asking the commissioner how the agency will reduce phone and disability-decision wait times and improve service delivery.

The member criticized recent agency actions under the Biden administration and raised three specific oversight areas. First, the lawmaker called for modernizing return-to-work efforts, pointing to the Ticket to Work program, created in 1999, as failing to reach most eligible beneficiaries: "Of the nearly 12,300,000 eligible beneficiaries in 2023, only 311,000, or 2.5%, were participating in the Ticket to Work program," the lawmaker said. He cited program evaluations finding participants only slightly more likely to gain employment and that program costs exceeded the savings in disability benefits to the agency.

Second, the lawmaker said he was concerned about recent Social Security rule changes affecting Supplemental Security Income eligibility, saying the agency published four rules that change SSI eligibility and are "estimated to cost taxpayers $40,000,000,000," and criticized those changes as enacted "all without congressional approval." The speaker framed that point in the context of oversight of agency rulemaking and potential impacts on beneficiaries.

Third, the member raised the status of data exchanges between the Social Security Administration and state child welfare agencies intended to improve accountability for representative payees managing benefits for foster youth. The lawmaker said that a bipartisan law passed in February 2018 required the Social Security Administration to establish such exchanges, but that a Government Accountability Office report found states face challenges implementing or maintaining them and that not all states participate. "I look forward to working with you and your team to ensure those data exchanges are up and running and to ensure we bring transparency to this issue," the member said, adding that he had sent a letter to the GAO with Ranking Member Davis requesting an update on state participation and SSA monitoring of representative payees.

The lawmaker noted the scale of the foster-care issue: he said about 27,000 children in foster care receive SSI or survivor benefits, with average benefit amounts of about $800 to $1,100 per month. He framed those benefits as a "critical lifeline" for some of the country's most vulnerable children and said the committee has a particular interest in ensuring funds managed by state representative payees are used appropriately and tracked as children move placements.

Throughout the remarks the member said he wants to preserve and promote the "dignity of work," stating that Disability Insurance and SSI include incentives intended to encourage work but that those incentives are not currently effective. He called for identifying government-imposed barriers that prevent beneficiaries who want to work from reestablishing employment.

The lawmaker closed by congratulating the commissioner on confirmation and offering to work with the agency: "Again, commissioner, thank you for stepping up to take on this job. We're eager to work with you as a new pair of eyes, to get the SSA back on track, and I look forward to your testimony," he said, then yielded back.