April 04, 2022

President Biden’s 2023 Budget Offers Benefits, Protections for Older Americans

President Joe Biden unveiled his proposed budget for the 2023 fiscal year this week, calling for $5.8 trillion dollars in spending on a number of federal programs. Along with funding for national defense and action to combat climate change, the budget proposal also bolsters several programs that directly support older Americans.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) would receive a 14% increase in spending from 2021 under the proposal, to a total of $14.8 billion overall. Much of that spending would go to improve services by increasing staffing levels for SSA field offices. The agency administers retirement, disability and survivor benefits to nearly 70 million Americans, but had to cease in-person operations at the height of the pandemic.

The President’s budget also requests a 9.6% increase in spending for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is responsible for conducting biomedical and public health research. Much of that increase is slated for the NIH’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which executes high-risk, cutting edge research.

The country’s election infrastructure was tagged for a massive boost in spending as well. The President requested $10 billion to support state and local election officials, expand the Postal Service’s ability to administer vote-by-mail and protect marginalized communities from voter suppression. New restrictive voting legislation has already hampered older Americans’ ability to vote. In Texas, older Black voters have seen their mail-in ballots rejected at an alarming rate.

“We’re pleased to see that the President’s budget takes the needs of older Americans into account,” said President Roach. “Now it’s up to Congress to make these changes a reality.”