What kind of spending is social security

Our administrative budget provides resources to administer Social Security and SSI programs as well as certain aspects of the Medicare program. It funds salaries and benefits for Federal SSA employees and for State employees at disability determination services DDS offices who make disability determinations for us.

In addition, our administrative budget pays for other expenses, such as rent for our field offices across the country, our National Number Network, and information technology costs. Each year, we must submit budget requests to Congress that justify our funding needs for the following year. Currently highlighted Remove all. Time yearly quarterly monthly latest data available.

Definition of Social spending Social expenditure comprises cash benefits, direct in-kind provision of goods and services, and tax breaks with social purposes. Last published in Publication. Related publications Society at a Glance Publication Ageing and Employment Policies Publication Your selection for sharing:. Snapshot of data for a fixed period data will not change even if updated on the site Latest available data for a fixed period, Latest available data,.

By law, Social Security must invest these surplus funds only in special-issue U. Treasury notes, which have the same full faith and credit guarantee as any other federal bond. Going forward, the trust fund surplus will be drawn down as an aging population claims benefits, and as the U. That already is starting to happen. In fiscal , expenditures exceeded revenue including interest on investments for the first time since In those years, the existence of Social Security reduced the federal budget deficit.

Today, it is relying on a cash infusion from the Treasury to pay full benefits. But in this sense, Social Security is no more a cause of the deficit than any other holder of U.

Treasuries, be it Wall Street or the Chinese government. A second argument that Social Security contributes to deficits is related to the longer-run outlook for the program. The trust funds are projected to be exhausted in ; at that point, incoming revenue would be sufficient to continue paying only about 75 percent of promised benefits. We might or might not reach that point - we could eliminate much of this long-range shortfall by gradually increasing payroll taxes and raising the cap on covered income.

Or we could reduce benefits by further increasing the full retirement age, or craft some combination of tax increases and benefit cuts.