Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) delivered the following remarks during a committee markup of H.Res. 195.
As prepared for delivery.
“Last November, the American people overwhelmingly rejected the Biden Administration’s efforts to put Washington and its bureaucrats ahead of everyday Americans. From cancelling appointments for more than 7,500 Americans to give Social Security Administration employees an afternoon off to signing a midnight agreement to lock in telework with SSA’s largest union, Biden’s Social Security Commissioner did everything he could to boost bureaucrats at the expense of the American people. All in the midst of a customer service crisis that saw the highest initial disability backlog and some of the highest customer service wait times in the SSA’s almost 90-year history.
“In contrast, President Trump promised to increase the efficiency and accountability of Washington’s entrenched bureaucracy. The President made no secret about how he was going to accomplish that, by tasking the Department of Government Efficiency to aggressively seek out inefficiencies in agencies and places where services could be better streamlined for the American public in order to get a faster, more responsive government for their needs. It is a fact that waste and fraud exist at the SSA. And in the end, that hurts the Americans seeking help from that Agency. In August of 2024, the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General found $72 billion in improper payments by the agency between 2015 and 2022. President Trump knows that protecting Social Security includes rooting out fraud and waste to ensure that the right benefit is paid to the right person at the right time.
“This should be something everyone supports. However, some Democrats would prefer to obstruct these efforts to score political points.
F”ortunately, not only has the SSA been transparent with both Congress and the public with its service delivery data and the changes being made to shift the SSA from an agency that uses decades old business practices to one that can provide modern, quality service to the public, but one of the first public statements of President Trump’s new Acting Commissioner was to confirm that DOGE personnel cannot make changes to agency systems, to commit to abide by court rulings related to DOGE’s access, and to refer DOGE personnel for prosecution if they violate the law – the same laws that protect the American people’s data from misuse by the SSA’s tens of thousands of other employees.
“Seniors are already seeing the benefit of doing things differently. Beneficiaries affected by WEP and GPO are getting the back payments mandated by the Social Security Fairness Act faster than expected. Originally, the Social Security Administration estimated it would take 1,000 work-years to send out back payments. In a letter to Social Security Chairman Ron Estes and I, SSA wrote: ‘We estimate that it will take about 1,000 work-years to process the actions required under the new law for the approximately 3.2 million affected beneficiaries. Our initial analysis indicates that much of the work will need to be done manually on a case-by-case basis.’
“Since that letter was sent in January, the Trump Administration’s embrace of automation and technology has made a night and day difference for those affected seniors. Under President Trump, the SSA has already sent more than 71 percent of all back payments to the 3.2 million affected beneficiaries. This is how the agency should work. Congress passes a new law. The agency quickly implements the law to get benefits in the hands of Americans as fast as possible. We shouldn’t be told it will take 1,000 work years to complete. This success story flies in the face of Democrats claiming DOGE is hurting seniors and taxpayers.
“While Democrats may want to use scaremongering to score political points, the facts are not on their side. President Trump did not touch Social Security benefits during his first term. House Republicans and President Trump remain committed to protecting and preserving the retirement benefits seniors count on.”