00:03I have an amendment that I think will be distributed on the Social Security Administration.
00:09As it's handed out, I just want to thank Senator Baldwin for her efforts to provide funding in this bill for public radio
00:18and the Corporation of Public Broadcasting.
00:21I was glad to see there may be an effort to put something in before the bill gets to the floor.
00:27That, I think, would be very important.
00:29This is an amendment that deals with the challenge, which is identified in the bipartisan committee report
00:37regarding service delivery at the Social Security Administration.
00:41And I'm just going to read what the committee found.
00:45The committee notes that there are significant service delivery challenges at SSA
00:49that are impacting critical services that millions of Americans rely on.
00:55This amendment would help address that issue.
00:58By providing $90 million to help strengthen customer service.
01:05It's very clear that this function has been under-resourced for a long time.
01:12That's been the testimony we've received from folks at the Social Security Administration.
01:16The situation was made much worse, I think we all recognize, during the early days of the Elon Musk-Doge effort.
01:26And there were efforts to essentially take a chainsaw, Elon Musk's metaphor, not mine, to important services there.
01:37And the results were a denial of important customer service to millions of our constituents who were seeking answers regarding Social Security and other benefits.
01:48There was a huge drop in the number of calls even answered.
01:55Those that were answered had very long wait times.
01:59Then you may remember they had an issue with the website crashing.
02:04Then they tried to assign people from different regional officers to fill the gap.
02:09So there's a real need to make sure our constituents can get answers regarding their benefits.
02:16The $90 million comes from OMB, and I want to take one second just to explain this.
02:24As part of the fiscal year 26 request that we're reviewing here, FISG will review,
02:29Russ Vogt, the director of OMB, while he's calling for cuts to all the other agencies, is asking for a 13% increase in his budget.
02:41While he's calling for people to be fired from other agencies, he's asking for more people at OMB.
02:47That will be a decision this committee reaches with respect to fiscal year 26.
02:52But on top of that, on top of that, in the reconciliation bill, there was something we'd never done before.
03:00There was a mandatory spending of $100 million to OMB, which is almost double its current budget.
03:11Almost double its current budget.
03:13No explanation for what this was going to be used for, why it was needed.
03:17We all ask questions.
03:18So what this amendment does is, in order to help our constituents get better service delivery through the Social Security Administration,
03:27which took a big hit because of the Elon Musk operation,
03:31that we take monies from this unaccountable fund at OMB to make sure that we address that purpose.
03:39And I ask my colleagues for their support, and I ask for a roll call vote.
03:44Senator Capito.
03:46And I want to thank Senator Van Hollen.
03:48I know I've heard him speak on Social Security more than a few times, and I know he is offering this out of his great concern.
03:57And so I think Senator Baldwin and I reflect that concern in our bill, in our fiscal 2026 Labor-Age bill in its current form.
04:05It provides adequate funding, we believe, I believe, Social Security for administrative expenses.
04:10It's $100 million more than it was last year.
04:14The report also includes language, in the language part of the bill, to note that the purpose of this funding is to support staffing needs at the agency.
04:25In other words, we don't want to see it diverted, even though IT is a big question over there, diverted to exclusively IT.
04:32So I think this amendment basically duplicates steps that we are taking in the base bill, and so I would urge my colleagues to vote against the amendment.
04:40Are there other comments?
04:42Just very, very briefly.
04:43This is an account I think we've all sort of paid attention to for a while.
04:47It is chronically underfunded.
04:50All you have to do is talk to former Social Security Administration O'Malley, administrator.
04:56So I do appreciate the steps the committee's taken, but given the hit that this function and mission took early on, there's a lot of damage to be repaired.
05:07And I think that they need the $90 million a lot more than the OMB needs an additional slush fund outside their normal fiscal year budget.
05:16So I would ask for the vote.
05:18Are there any other comments?
05:21I will just make one quick one, and that is I very much appreciate the additional funding that has been put into the bill to improve customer service at SSA.
05:33This has been a terrible problem in the state of Maine, and the additional funding in the subcommittee bill clearly is needed.
05:43I look forward to reviewing very carefully OMB's budget as part of the FSGG subcommittee bill that is produced for many of the reasons that the senator from Maryland has said,
06:00the 13 percent increase at a time when other budgets are being cut and on top of the money that was in the reconciliation bill.
06:10But I do think that the chair and ranking member have invested in customer service by adding the $100 million, I believe it is, in the underlying bill.
06:26Any other comments?
06:30If not, Senator Murkowski.
06:32Just for a point of information, how much is this increase that is included in the bill?
06:39What are we above the president's budget on this?
06:46The president's budget was level, and so we are $100 million above the president's budget.
06:52So substantial.
06:52With that, the clerk will call the roll.
06:58Senator McConnell.
06:59No, by proxy.
07:01Senator Murkowski.
07:02No.
07:03Senator Graham.
07:04No, by proxy.
07:05Senator Moran.
07:06No, by proxy.
07:07Senator Hoven.
07:08No, by proxy.
07:09Senator Boz.
07:10No, by proxy.
07:11Senator Capito.
07:12No.
07:13Senator Kennedy.
07:14No, by proxy.
07:15Senator Hyde-Smith.
07:16No.
07:17Senator Hagerty.
07:18No, by proxy.
07:20Senator Briggs.
07:21No, by proxy.
07:22Senator Mullin.
07:23No, by proxy.
07:24Senator Fisher.
07:25No, by proxy.
07:26Senator Round.
07:27No, by proxy.
07:28Senator Murray.
07:29Aye.
07:30Senator Durbin.
07:31Aye.
07:32Senator Reid.
07:33Aye.
07:34Senator Shaheen.
07:35Aye, by proxy.
07:37Senator Merkley.
07:38Aye, by proxy.
07:39Senator Coons.
07:40Aye, by proxy.
07:41Senator Schatz.
07:42Aye, by proxy.
07:43Senator Baldwin.
07:44Aye.
07:45Senator Murphy.
07:47Aye.
07:47Senator Van Hollen.
07:49Aye.
07:49Senator Heinrich.
07:51Aye.
07:52Senator Peters.
07:53Aye, by proxy.
07:54Senator Gillibrand.
07:56Aye, by proxy.
07:57Senator Assoff.
07:58Aye.
07:59Chair Collins.
08:00No.
08:13On this vote, the ayes are 14, the nays are 15.
