The poor economy is driving hundreds of thousands to file claims with the Social Security Administration, straining resources and threatening progress in reducing the claims backlog, the SSA commissioner told Congress on Thursday.

Americans filed 400,000 more disability claims in fiscal 2009 than SSA predicted, and the agency expects to see 700,000 more disability claims filed in 2010 than in 2008.

That's bad news for SSA, which has worked for years to reduce its claims backlog to the current level of about 780,000. That progress may be in jeopardy without increased funding from Congress, Commissioner Michael Astrue said.

"We were just not set up to handle an extra 1 million [claims]. We were struggling a bit with staffing as it was, and it's taken a while to hire and train new employees," Astrue told the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security.

SSA hired 8,600 new employees with its fiscal 2009 appropriation and $500 million in stimulus funding. But Astrue said the agency must have more money to sustain those employees once the stimulus funding ends in 2011.

Chairman John Tanner, D-Tenn., said SSA is clearly facing a crisis and needs more money to handle the economy's impact on the agency.

"If SSA's hearing offices do not have the resources to handle this added workload while still tackling the existing backlog, SSA will not be able to fulfill its goal of eliminating the hearings backlog by the end of fiscal year 2013. In fact, the hearings backlog could begin to rise again," Tanner said.

SSA's claims processing has also been impeded by 10 states choosing to furlough SSA's state-level disability determination services employees. DDS employees examine and process claims in states and are considered state employees, but their salaries and benefits are paid for by the federal government.

The furloughs hinder SSA's ability to keep up with claims, according to a new inspector general report. The furloughs nationwide have delayed 69,000 claims, denying citizens $126 million in benefits, concluded SSA IG Patrick O'Carroll.

California is the largest state to participate in furloughs, with DDS workers being forced to take three days a month off without pay, Astrue said.

Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., said he will introduce a bill to federalize the DDS employees if the furloughs don't stop soon.