HR7228-119

What This Bill Does

The Maintain Access to Vital Social Security Services Act adds a new Social Security Act section 714 on field offices. SSA must operate enough offices and employ enough staff to meet current and projected workload, respond to population or workload changes from service-area reviews, maintain posted hours where possible, and minimize wait times for appointment and walk-in users. Staffing assigned to field offices cannot fall below the number assigned on January 1, 2025. Before closing, consolidating, ending a lease, or otherwise reducing public access or in-person service, SSA must give at least 180 days of public notice identifying the office, effective date, reasons, rejected alternatives such as relocation, GSA's role, hearing details, alternative assistance channels, and contact information. SSA must also notify affected Members of Congress and Senators and hold public hearings. Within 180 days after enactment, SSA must report to Ways and Means and Senate Finance on all field offices closed in the prior five years, closure reasons, wait-time and staffing impacts at nearby offices, GSA's alternative-space search, public-official input, public input, and a plan to maintain prior-year constituent-service levels while addressing 10-year projected field-office use.

Who Benefits and How

Social Security beneficiaries, disability applicants, Supplemental Security Income applicants, seniors, people without reliable internet access, rural field-office users, congressional constituent-service offices, and communities facing office closures benefit from staffing floors, notice, public hearings, alternative-location analysis, and transparency about service impacts. SSA field staff may benefit from a statutory floor that discourages additional field-office staffing cuts.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Social Security Commissioner, SSA field-office managers, SSA leasing staff, General Services Administration leasing officials, field-office supervisors, and congressional oversight staff must preserve service levels, prepare 180-day notices, hold hearings, evaluate alternatives, notify lawmakers, document closure impacts, and prepare the 10-year resource report. SSA may lose flexibility to close, consolidate, or reduce access to offices even where leases, budgets, or workload patterns change.

Key Provisions

• Requires SSA to operate enough field offices and personnel for accessible public service, workload, posted hours, and shorter wait times.
• Bars field-office staffing from falling below the number assigned on January 1, 2025.
• Requires 180-day public notice before closures, lease terminations, consolidations, or other access reductions.
• Requires congressional notice and public hearings before covered field-office actions.
• Requires closure notices to explain rejected alternatives, GSA's role, alternative assistance channels, and contact information.
• Directs a 180-day report on five years of closures, GSA alternative-space efforts, staffing and wait-time effects, and a 10-year resource plan.