Judge plans to address Social Security Disability Program issues at Newsmaker

Judge Randall Frye, president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges (AALJ) and a federal judge with the Social Security Administration based in Charlotte, N.C., plans to discuss ways to counter waste, abuse and runaway costs in the Social Security Disability Income program at a National Press Club Newsmaker press conference on Friday, April 19th at 10 a.m. in the NPC's Zenger Room.

Press Club Newsmakers are open to the members and the working press. No reservation required.

Social Security trustees say the disability fund is headed for insolvency in three years. Since the fund is barred from running a deficit, insolvency would cause a 21 percent cut in benefits to 11 million Americans with disabilities and qualifying spouses and children. Applications to the disability program have risen more than 30 percent since 2007, the number of disability benefits recipients rose 23 percent in the same period. The courts have experienced a 57 percent increase in cases since 1990. Lawyers, many of whom find clients through television commercials, represent 80 percent of claimants -- while the government lacks a representative in these hearings.

The Social Security Disability Income Program cost $132 billion in 2011, more than the combined annual budgets of the Agriculture, Homeland Security, Commerce, Labor, Interior and Justice Departments.