Omnibus includes a $785 million LAE increase for the Social Security Administration

While most Americans were focused on the holiday season and making plans for New Year’s Eve, Congress and the White House finalized the FY23 Omnibus spending bill, avoiding a potential government shutdown.

The all-encompassing spending bill passed the U.S. Senate 68-29, with the House following up the next day with a 225-201 vote for passage.

NOSSCR was pleased to see that the Social Security Administration (SSA) received enough funding to prevent further deterioration of the services it currently provides. For Fiscal Year 2023, which runs from October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023, the SSA will receive an increase of $785 million in its Limitation on Administrative Expenses (LAE). This represents about half of the increase that President Biden included in his FY 2023 budget request. The final LAE budget allocation was also less than both the House and Senate had proposed in their individual spending bills.

Quite simply, the SSA will need to make improvements, continue to meet the demand for its services, and generally address continued backlogs—all without additional funding. With a divided Congress, there is little expectation in Washington that SSA’s increasing budget requests will be met in the coming session.