A Check for Social Security

"Under any funding scenario in fiscal 2008, SSA has limited remaining resources to use to drive down the hearings backlog," he wrote.

In the next year, field offices "will be unable to replace employees who leave," he said.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is the chief sponsor of an amendment to increase Social Security's budget for next year. (Andrew Poertner - AP)

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The only significant hiring will be for hearings, where the agency hopes to add about 150 administrative law judges, starting in the spring, Astrue said.

Mark Lassiter, the Social Security press officer, said "it is too early to tell" what the agreement by the congressional negotiators will mean for the agency. He noted that any workload-related decisions will have to wait until after an official budget is transmitted to the agency.

Talk Shows

John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, and J. David Cox, the federation's secretary-treasurer, will discuss the 2008 election during the union's program, "Inside Government," at 10 a.m. today on http://federalnewsradio.com and WFED radio (1050 AM).

Tyler D. Duvall, assistant secretary for transportation policy at the Transportation Department, will be the guest on IBM's "Business of Government Hour" at 9 a.m. Saturday on WJFK radio (106.7 FM).

Stephen Barr's e-mail address ishttp://barrs@washpost.com.

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A Check for Social Security

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