U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Representative,
On behalf of the millions of members and supporters of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, I am writing to urge you to vote NO on H.R. 8884, the Removing Barriers to Work for Disabled Americans Act, when it is considered on the Floor of the House of Representatives.
Members of the National Committee come from all walks of life and every political persuasion. What unites them is their passion for protecting and strengthening Social Security, Medicare, and the other programs that are so vitally important to older Americans.
At first appearance, H.R. 8884 appears to be an innocuous piece of legislation that merely reauthorizes demonstration projects intended to help Americans with disabilities re-enter the workforce if they are able and want to work. In fact, Congress has previously granted the Social Security Administration (SSA) with similar time-limited demonstration authority to test improvements to its return-to-work policies and services.
However, the legislation raises concerns when considered amid the backdrop of the Trump Administration’s repeated efforts to eviscerate Social Security’s Disability Insurance (SSDI) program through the mechanism of demonstration projects, budget proposals and regulatory changes. In his first Administration, President Trump repeatedly proposed using SSA’s demonstration authorities to slash disability benefits by approximately $50 billion over 10 years. In addition, despite his repeated vows not to ‘touch’ Social Security, his budgets have included long lists of potential SSDI benefit cuts along with planned regulatory changes that would have forced countless disabled Americans off the disability roles and stripped away benefits from older, severely disabled workers by making it harder to qualify for benefits.
Seen through this lens, the Administration’s refusal to disclose any information on how it would use this demonstration authority if it were re-authorized raises serious red flags about how this authority might be used. Providing open-ended authority to an Administration that has shown its contempt for such a critical part of America’s social insurance threatens the lives and livelihoods of some of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. H.R. 8884 provides no protection from demonstration projects that could result in participant’s benefits being reduced compared to current law, it does not require a regulatory public notice and comment period or a mechanism for Congressional disapproval prior to demonstration projects’ initiation.
Finally, the legislation requires SSA to use its operating budget, which is already severely constrained under annual appropriations limits, to fund the administration of any SSDI demonstration projects, potentially placing additional stress on the Agency’s already threatened front-line customer service. The Ways and Means Committee’s minority efforts to provide guardrails for the Administration’s use of the demonstration authority and address the other concerns outlined in this letter were summarily rejected by the majority.
For these reasons, we respectfully ask the House to vote against H.R. 8884.
Sincerely,
Max Richtman
President and CEO