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May 02, 2007 at 12:07 AM
A Bush administration official says tight budgets are hurting government efforts to speed up reviews of government disability benefits claims.
Social Security Administration Commissioner Michael Astrue said today during a House Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee hearing that the SSA needs 150 more administrative law judges and a total of more than 750 new staff members to speed up efforts to serve the 700,000 Americans who are awaiting hearings on Social Security and Supplemental Security Income disability program claims.
In addition, Astrue would like to see the government get more work out of its administrative law judges by having many of them hold electronic hearings from a central location, rather than presiding over conventional hearings at each of the SSA’s 141 hearing offices.
