If you think phone wait times are bad now when calling the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), think again. They could get much worse if proposed budget cuts are allowed to happen.
RRB Labor Member John Bragg announced on June 26 that the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies had released its proposed funding bill for FY 25. The disastrous proposal would cut $26 million from the RRB’s administrative budget, an almost 21 percent cut from FY 24.
Already understaffed, the proposed budget “would be catastrophic for the RRB,” Brother Bragg said. He projects phone wait times would reach 2 to 2.5 hours during peak season, with a projected answer rate of 30-35 percent of incoming calls.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This proposed funding level for the RRB, if adopted, would force the agency to make drastic personnel cuts to customer service personnel, claims agents, field office staff, and the closure of field offices in railroad communities. If this budget axe falls, it would mean that railroaders, retirees, and their spouses would experience wait times of 18 months or more on any issue with the agency.
“A budget cut of this proportion will directly harm the rail employees and annuitants who have paid into the system their entire careers,” Bragg said. “The agency has requested that Congress fund the agency at $172.331 million, because without a significant increase, the agency will not be able to provide the rail community with the customer service that it deserves. The current House proposal puts the agency at high risk of mission failure.”
The RRB’s administrative budget is financed by payroll taxes paid by rail employees and rail employers. Funding is appropriated from the RRB Trust Funds and not the U.S. Treasury’s general fund.
Please use the Take Action area of the BLET website to contact Congress today, especially if you are represented by a Republican member of Congress, as they are the majority party in the U.S. House this session. Let them know you oppose any funding cuts to the Railroad Retirement Board, and that you support the agency’s requested budget of $172.331 million.