Social Security overpayments draw scrutiny and outrage from Congress

Several members of Congress are calling on the Social Security Administration to answer for issuing billions of dollars of payments it says beneficiaries weren’t entitled to receive — and then demanding the money back.

Many of the recipients are elderly, poor, or disabled and have already spent the money. They have little or no way of repaying it.

“The government’s got to fix this,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who chairs a Senate panel that oversees Social Security.

“It’s a management problem, and people there should be held accountable,” Brown added.

Rep. Mike Carey of Ohio, the No. 2 Republican on a House panel that oversees Social Security, called for a congressional hearing on the subject.

“We need to have a hearing,” he said. “The general sense from members is … we do have a problem, we’ve got to address it, we’ve got to fix it,” he added.