A group of House Democrats is asking the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for additional information on delays in processing retirement applications,\u00a0as the agency reports its backlog declined by about 10,000 claims last month.<\/p>\n
In a follow-up letter<\/a> to OPM Director Scott Kupor, the lawmakers say OPM failed to provide answers to some of their questions in their initial letter sent in December.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTo date, OPM has provided only a partial response to a number of those questions,\u201d the lawmakers wrote. \u201cIn the meantime, we continue to hear from constituents who are experiencing significant delays and communication failures regarding their retirement applications.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawmakers are seeking clarity in several key areas including staffing, communication, and the agency\u2019s transition to digital processing.<\/p>\n On staffing, the lawmakers said OPM did not account for roughly 100 departures from its Retirement Services Division in 2025, while disclosing the loss of 35 customer service representatives.<\/p>\n They also questioned whether OPM is providing adequate guidance to retirees who have lost access to government email accounts, potentially limiting their ability to communicate with HR offices.<\/p>\n In addition, the lawmakers requested more detail on the rollout of OPM\u2019s Online Retirement Application (ORA), including how many cases remain outside the online system and when full implementation is expected.<\/p>\n While expressing support for modernization, the lawmakers cautioned against using it to downplay existing issues.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we do not support is the use of rhetoric about modernization efforts to obscure the existing backlog of retirement applications for federal employees, many of whom were pushed out by the Trump administration\u2019s workforce reduction policies,\u201d stated the letter.<\/p>\n The letter was signed by Reps. James Walkinshaw (D-VA), Kweisi Mfume (D-MD), Robert Garcia (D-CA), and Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA).\u00a0<\/p>\n Backlog Declines<\/p>\n This comes as OPM makes progress in whittling down the backlog. As of the end of March, the retirement processing backlog<\/a> stands at 55,700. That\u2019s down nearly 10,000 from February. Total processing time averaged 39 days for digital applications and 60 days overall, down from 71 in February. \u00a0<\/p>\n OPM spokesperson McLaurine Pinover said the agency is making \u201csteady progress\u201d following a surge in applications earlier this year.<\/p>\n