{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sykes.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-sykes-carey-lead-bipartisan-coalition-demanding-answers-social-security", "Reps. Sykes, Carey Lead Bipartisan Coalition In Demanding Answers From Social Security Administration Over Improper Overpayments", "2023-12-18", "2023", "2023-12", "Democrat", "House", "OH", "Emilia Strong Sykes", "S001223", "sykes.house.gov", "sykes", "https://sykes.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Reps. Emilia Sykes (OH-13) and Mike Carey (OH-15) led several members of the Ohio congressional delegation in demanding answers from the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) over improper payments made to beneficiaries.\n\n\u201cOlder and disabled Americans who have done everything correctly when filing for Social Security benefits but received overpayments through no fault of their own should not be penalized for erroneous mistakes made by the Social Security Administration,\u201d said Rep. Sykes. \u201cOur seniors rely on these payments to pay their bills and put food on the table \u2014 they can\u2019t afford for the SSA to be making life-altering errors. This letter seeks to hold the SSA accountable and ensure all seniors receive the correct payments they deserve.\u201d\n\n\u201cOverpayments have been a problem for at least a decade \u2014 if not longer \u2014 according to our caseworkers,\u201d said Rep. Carey. \u201cMore troubling is that SSA is now saying they might not be able to vouch for the legitimacy of how many people have been subject to overpayments. I\u2019m working with my colleagues on the House Ways and Means Committee to get answers as to why SSA is so dysfunctional.\u201d\n\nThe Social Security Administration contacts over one million Americans annually to recoup funds disbursed in error to beneficiaries. Although these overpayments can take months or years to be recognized by SSA, once an overpayment is noticed, the adverse impact on Social Security beneficiaries is nearly instantaneous: elderly and disabled Americans relying on Social Security living on fixed incomes have had their benefits frozen or cut because of overpayment mistakes. More troubling, SSA has failed to provide adequate figures to Congress about the total number of people being impacted by this issue.\n\nReps. Sykes and Carey sent a letter to Dr. Kilolo Kijakazi, the acting commissioner of the SSA, demanding answers as to why the problem continues to persist. Also signing on to the letter were Reps. Bob Latta (R-OH-05), Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03), Troy Balderson (R-OH-12), Greg Landsman (D-OH-01), and Rep. Max Miller (R-OH-07).", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:14:16Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://sykes.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-sykes-carey-lead-bipartisan-coalition-demanding-answers-social-security"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4280653558671474, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}