Washington, D.C. — Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare Chairman Darin LaHood (IL-16) delivered the following remarks during a joint subcommittee hearing with the Commissioner of Social Security, Frank J. Bisignano:

Welcome Commissioner Bisignano, we appreciate you taking the time to join us today and congratulations on your confirmation. 

I look forward to hearing more about your plans for re-focusing the Social Security Administration on its customer service mission. 

It is critical that we work together to ensure young people, seniors, and disabled individuals that depend on your agency get the services they need in a timely and accurate manner.

Under the Biden Administration’s mismanagement, the SSA hit record high wait times for both phones and initial Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability decisions. 

In addition, Biden’s executive overreach went to a level we haven’t seen before – with the agency publishing four rules making changes to SSI eligibility, estimated to cost taxpayers $40 billion – all without Congressional approval. 

As Chairman of the Work and Welfare Subcommittee, I have a particular interest in the SSI program and the individuals it serves. 

Although Disability Insurance (DI) and SSI are designed to support individuals who cannot perform substantial work due to their disabling medical condition, the two programs allow individuals to work and earn within certain limits. 

Certainly, for those who have a disability or medical condition that improves over time, we should not be putting barriers in the way of them returning to work. 

Both DI and SSI include complex incentives intended to encourage individuals to return to work, earn wages, and cease receiving government benefits – but all the evidence suggests they aren’t effective. 

For example, the Ticket to Work program established in 1999 allows eligible DI and SSI beneficiaries to voluntarily obtain free employment services or other support services from approved providers to achieve specified work goals. 

However, the most recent data showed of the nearly 12.3 million eligible beneficiaries in 2023, only 311,000 (or 2.5 percent), were participating in Ticket to Work. Evaluations of the program found participants are only slightly more likely to find employment, and program costs exceeded the savings in disability benefits to the SSA.

One of the principles we’ve established at the Work and Welfare Subcommittee is to promote the dignity of work for everyone. All of our government programs need to be oriented to provide every opportunity for individuals to reach their full capacity.

I hope that we can work together with you to find ways to improve outcomes for disabled individuals receiving SSI who want to maintain or renew a connection to work by identifying government-imposed barriers. Specifically, I am interested in modernizing the Ticket to Work program and other outdated return to work demonstrations at the SSA. 

The second topic I want to bring up is related to the child welfare program. Earlier this month, the Subcommittee had a hearing on supporting older youth who are transitioning out of foster care into adulthood. 

Approximately 27,000 children in foster care receive SSI or Survivor benefits – with an average benefit amount of $800-$1,100 per month. These are some of the most vulnerable children in our country and SSA’s benefits are a critical lifeline for them.

State child welfare agencies act as “representative payees” on behalf of youth in foster care and there have been questions about how funds are used, as well as the ability to track foster children moving from placement to placement. 

In 2018, Congress passed a bipartisan law that required SSA to establish data exchanges with state child welfare agencies to improve accountability. However, a subsequent GAO report found some states faced challenges implementing or maintaining data exchanges and not all states were participating. 

Last October, I sent a letter to GAO with Ranking Member Davis, requesting an update on how many states are participating in data exchanges and how the SSA monitors representative payees. 

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.

Thank you again Commissioner for your time. We are eager to work with you, as a new pair of eyes, to getting the SSA back on track. I look forward to your testimony and I yield back.