Jan 5, 2008

Way And Means Committee Opposition To Proposed Procedural Regulations

The letter signed by Charles Rangel, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and many other committee chairmen concerning Social Security's proposed changes in its procedural regulations, designed to cut benefits payments by $2 billion, has been out for some time. The depth of Ways and Means Committee opposition to this proposal is becoming clearer. Take a look at the web page created by the Ways and Means Committee devoted just to this issue. I have not seen anything like this before.

The Ways and Means web page on this regulatory proposal contains a link to a New York Times article from 1988 about a proposal at that time that parallels the current proposal. That proposal would have required that all evidence be submitted seven days before a Social Security hearing. It just goes to show that there are no truly new ideas about Social Security. We just endlessly recycle old ideas.

One minor point from the old New York Times article is that it mentioned that Eileen Bradley was under consideration in 1988 to become Commissioner of Social Security during the George H. W. Bush Administration. I am getting a cold shiver just thinking about that twenty year old idea! Is Ms. Bradley still working for the Social Security Administration?

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