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Letter to Michael J. Astrue Commissioner Social Security Administration

Letter

Date: Oct. 24, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Senior Citizens Entitlements and the Safety Net

October 24, 2007

Michael J. Astrue
Commissioner
Social Security Administration
6401 Security Boulevard
Baltimore, MD 21235-0001

Dear Commissioner Astrue:

We are again writing to ask your reconsideration of the proposal to close the Bristol Office and to bring to your attention an amendment passed today by the United States Senate regarding this proposal.

Today, the Senate unanimously adopted an amendment we all supported to prevent any funds from being used to close the Bristol office at this time. We continue to believe that this proposal is ill-advised and that the selection of the Bristol office for closure was not based on a sound analysis of the impact on elderly citizens in our state as compared to the relatively minimal savings to be achieved.

As we have previously pointed out, the Bristol office serves over 12,000 elderly and disabled citizens each year. According to documents provided by the Social Security Administration, the Bristol office handles 25 to 35 unscheduled walk-ins each day, in addition to regularly scheduled appointments. A good many of these walk-ins are residents that rely on public transportation. Asking them to travel to New Britain is a hardship: in many cases it would require them to transfer buses or take a taxi each way. We further want to emphasize that this is a population that often is not comfortable negotiating transactions over the telephone, and is not knowledgeable about navigating online services.

We continue to believe that the criteria for selecting the Bristol office and other offices for closure has not been articulated and that a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis has not been conducted that adequately considers the transportation and communication burdens placed on the elderly. Hence the amendment adopted by the Senate states that the office should not be closed at least until such time as such criteria are identified and such analysis has been submitted.

We hope you will honor the will of the Senate. We also hope you will continue to explore with us other options to achieve cost savings while keeping open the Bristol office.

Sincerely,

Joseph I. Lieberman UNITED STATES SENATOR

Christopher J. Dodd UNITED STATES SENATOR

John B. Larson MEMBER OF CONGRESS


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