claims and which budgets for the benefit payments and administrative costs of the program. Costs incurred by SSA in taking these claims are reimbursed by the Department of Labor. The beneficiary rolls for which SSA has responsibility will continue to decline gradually in years to come as a result of the death of miners and the death or remarriage of widows. At the midpoint of FY 1992, an estimated 191,000 beneficiaries will be receiving monthly benefits. This is a decrease of 15,000 from the estimated 206,000 beneficiaries who will be receiving payments at the midpoint of FY 1991. Explanation of Change The FY 1992 request for benefit payments is $813,000,000-$24,510,845 less than the FY 1991 level. The year-to-year decrease in the appropriation request is due primarily to the continuing decline in the beneficiary population. The President's budget includes a benefit increase of 4.1 percent in January 1991 and a projected 4.2 percent benefit increase in January 1992. These increases are determined by pay increases for Federal civilian employees. The decrease in total benefits is due to a reduction of $56,000,000 for the lower number of black lung beneficiaries and a reduction of $1,000,000 for slightly lower average monthly payments for beneficiaries in current pay. This is partially offset by an increase of $29,000,00 which results from the effect of the January 1991 and January 1992 benefit increases of 4.1 percent and 4.2 percent respectively, and an increase of $3,489,155 which results from full use of unobligated balances during FY 1991. Our budget request of $7,336,000 for FY 1992 black lung administrative expenses is $255,000 higher than the current estimate for FY 1991. The increase is attributable to the full year effect of the 4.1 percent Federal pay raise in January 1991 and the effect of the assumed 4.2 percent Federal pay raise in January 1992. Advance Appropriation The budget request includes an advance appropriation of $198,000,000 for the first quarter of FY 1993. This request ensures that benefit payments will continue without interruption into the next fiscal year. Supplemental Security Income The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) appropriation provides funds for direct cash assistance to eligible aged, blind and disabled recipients to help finance their basic needs. The appropriation request for fiscal year (FY) 1992 is $13,926,491,000 in addition to the $3,550,000,000 already appropriated for the first quarter of FY 1992, bringing the total appropriation to $17,476,491,000. This includes $16,105,000,000 for Federal benefits to aged, blind and disabled recipients; $39,100,000 for beneficiary rehabilitation services; $1,321,391,000 for payment to the trust funds and $11,000,000 for research and demonstration projects. We are requesting an advance appropriation of $5,240,000,000 for the first quarter of FY 1993 to ensure that beneficiaries will continue to receive benefits during the first quarter of FY 1993 in the event of a funding hiatus. Federal Benefit Payments The SSI program ensures a minimum monthly level of income to eligible aged, blind and disabled individuals. An individual's income, resources and living arrangements are evaluated in computing the actual amount of SSI payment. Payments are delivered through monthly benefit checks. The average number of Federal SSI recipients is expected to increase about 4.1 percent from 4,451,000 in FY 1991 to 4,634,000 in FY 1992 due primarily to an Increase in the number of blind and disabled SSI recipients. The FY 1992 request for Federal benefit payments is $16,105,000,000, which is about $80,000,000 less than the FY 1991 appropriation. The decrease represents the net effect of several major factors. We will pay more in SSI benefits to recipients in FY 1992 than in FY 1991, because of the increase in the number of recipients and because of the cost-of-living adjustments (5.4 percent in January 1991 and 5.2 percent in January 1992). However, these increases are more than offset by the one-time increases in FY 1991 for retroactive benefit payments for eligible class members in the Sullivan v. Zebley court decision and the accounting adjustment necessary to "buy out" outstanding uncollected overpayments. Beneficiary Services This activity provides funds for two purposes: for reimbursement to State vocational rehabilitation agencies for cost-beneficial rehabilitations of SSI recipients; and for contracts with governmental and private agencies to refer SSI recipients with drug or alcohol dependency to treatment programs and to monitor their participation in those programs. For FY 1992 we are requesting $39,100,000 for this activity: $35,100,000 for vocational rehabilitation and $4,000,000 for drug addict and alcoholic referral and monitoring. Payment to the Trust Funds The SSI and Social Security programs are administered on an integrated basis for purposes of economy and efficiency. The Social Security Act authorizes advances from the Social Security trust funds to pay the administrative costs of the SSI program through the Limitation on Administrative Expenses account. The advances are fully repaid from the SSI appropriation by the end of the subsequent fiscal year. SSA maintains a detailed cost allocation system, which has been audited by the General Accounting Office, to ensure that the trust funds are made whole (with interest, if appropriate) for the administrative expenses of the SSI program. The FY 1992 request for this activity is $1,321,391,000. The $1,183,378,000 appropriated for this activity in FY 1991 does not include funds to reimburse the trust funds for the administrative cost of implementing the Sullivan v. Zebley court decision. We are requesting a supplemental appropriation of $232,000,000 for FY 1991 for full reimbursement to the trust funds for these costs. The supplemental request is discussed in a separate statement. Research and Demonstration Projects This activity funds title II and title XVI research and demonstration projects authorized by sections 1110 and 1115 of the Social Security Act. The FY 1992 request for this activity is $11,000,000, primarily to help fund our "Project NetWork" ($6,900,000), which will test a case management approach to assisting disability clients to return to work, and for SSI outreach projects ($3,000,000). Advance Appropriation The budget request includes an advance appropriation of $5,240,000,000 for the first quarter of FY 1993. This request, which includes funds to pay 4 months of benefits in the first quarter of FY 1993 compared to funds to pay 3 months of benefits in the first quarter of FY 1992, insures that benefit payments will continue without interruption into the next fiscal year. Limitation on Administrative Expenses The Limitation on Administrative Expenses is a request for authority to spend up to $4,532,000,000 in fiscal year (FY) 1992 from the trust funds for administrative expenses. of the Social Security Administration (SSA). From this account, SSA pays for administration of the old-age and survivors and disability insurance programs, the supplemental security income (SSI) program for the aged, blind and disabled, Medicare work performed by SSA and certain other work. For reasons of economy and efficiency, SSA has integrated administration of both trust fund and some nontrust fund programs. The Social Security Act authorizes payment of SSI and certain other nontrust fund administrative expenses from this account, with full reimbursement from general funds in other accounts. Included in the $4,532 million request are: $3,354 million for regular SSA salaries and expenses, $260 million for automated data processing and telecommunications $868 million for the Disability State Agencies, and $50 million for a contingency reserve which can be used to fund the These amounts exclude the resources required to process workloads related to the Sullivan v. Zebley Supreme Court decision for which the President has submitted a FY 1991 supplemental budget request. The supplemental budget requests are addressed in a separate statement. Federal Salaries and Expenses The budget request for this element of the LAE account is driven primarily by the costs associated with supporting the staffing levels needed to process projected workloads. This account will fund 63,730 full-time equivalents (FTEs) in FY 1992, an increase of 758 FTEs from the amount currently funded for FY 1991. Projected workyear requirements take into account the volume of work SSA expects to process in fiscal years 1991 and 1992, as well as the productivity already achieved by SSA's workforce and additional management, procedural and automation improvements which will affect the time it takes to process work in FY 1991 and FY 1992. To determine our workyear requirements, we analyze the time it actually took to process each of our workloads in the past year, as well as review planned changes for |