Reed urges adoption of GAO recommendations for Social Security Administration

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) welcomed federal recommendations and urged their adoption to strengthen the U.S. Social Security Administration’s (SSA) monitoring of and reliance on organizations like non-profits or nursing homes that help beneficiaries manage their benefits.

“SSA should adopt these recommendations promptly,” said Rep. Reed and U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-CT), ranking member and chairman, respectively, of the U.S. House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, in a joint Oct. 4 statement.

The new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Social Security Benefits: SSA Needs to Improve Oversight of Organizations that Manage Money for Vulnerable Beneficiaries, makes nine recommendations for SSA, including that the agency assess requiring background checks for organizational payees; and establish timeframes for, and conduct revisions of the accounting form required annually for most organizational payees, according to the lawmakers’ statement.

“The SSA’s representative payee program helps approximately eight million Social Security beneficiaries, including nearly four million children, manage their benefits if they are unable to do so themselves,” Reps. Reed and Larson said. “Organizations play an important role in Social Security’s representative payee program and often serve some of the most vulnerable beneficiaries.”

The GAO report was at the request of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, which made a bipartisan request asking GAO to review organizational representative payees and how SSA selects, communicates with, and monitors these organizations.