House Democrats Press OPM on Retirement Delays as Backlog Improves

A group of House Democrats is asking the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for additional information on delays in processing retirement applications, as the agency reports its backlog declined by about 10,000 claims last month.

In a follow-up letter 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. 

“To date, OPM has provided only a partial response to a number of those questions,” the lawmakers wrote. “In the meantime, we continue to hear from constituents who are experiencing significant delays and communication failures regarding their retirement applications.”

The lawmakers are seeking clarity in several key areas including staffing, communication, and the agency’s transition to digital processing.

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.

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.

In addition, the lawmakers requested more detail on the rollout of OPM’s Online Retirement Application (ORA), including how many cases remain outside the online system and when full implementation is expected.

While expressing support for modernization, the lawmakers cautioned against using it to downplay existing issues.

“What 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’s workforce reduction policies,” stated the letter.

The letter was signed by Reps. James Walkinshaw (D-VA), Kweisi Mfume (D-MD), Robert Garcia (D-CA), and Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA). 

Backlog Declines

This comes as OPM makes progress in whittling down the backlog. As of the end of March, the retirement processing backlog stands at 55,700. That’s down nearly 10,000 from February. Total processing time averaged 39 days for digital applications and 60 days overall, down from 71 in February.  

OPM spokesperson McLaurine Pinover said the agency is making “steady progress” following a surge in applications earlier this year.

“At the same time, OPM continues expanding digital processing through the ORA system, which processes claims about twice as fast as traditional paper submissions,” Pinover told Federal News Network. “OPM remains committed to transparency, modernization and working with Congress to ensure federal retirees receive the benefits they’ve earned as efficiently as possible.”