Not All Those Offices Were Closed For Repairs Or Renovation

      From Government Executive:

 A group of Senate Democrats on Tuesday demanded information on how staffing shortages and reassignments are impacting the Social Security Administration’s ability to keep its 1,200 field offices open to the public.  

Last year, after years of chronic underfunding of SSA’s administrative functions already brought its workforce to a 50-year low, the Trump administration shaved the agency’s headcount by another 7,500 employees. According to OPM data, SSA had around 49,500 employees as of May. Bisignano has also reassigned more than 1,500 employees from the field offices and other subcomponents to man Social Security's 1-800 customer service line.

Earlier this year, Bisignano wrote in a private letter to Warren that he would “keep every field office open” and ensure they are “providing better and high-quality service.” But over the last several months, dozens of field offices have been listed at various points either closed entirely or only offered services via telephone. As of Monday afternoon, 16 field offices across the country provided no or limited services. 

In a letter to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and three other Democrats requested information on these temporary closures and the underlying reasons for each shuttering.

“Many of these offices were reportedly closed to the public due to maintenance needs or other operational issues—which may be a valid reason,” the lawmakers wrote. “But several offices appear to have been effectively closed due to staffing shortages, and some of these offices have allegedly remained ‘temporarily closed’ for an extended period of time.” …

“Conversational” Forms

      From Emergency Message EM-26029:

… On Saturday, July 25, 2026, Upload Documents will launch the first batch of forms utilizing a new conversational approach. With this method, form items will be presented as questions to the customer in a more easily understood, conversational style. Similar to previously introduced dynamic webforms, conversational forms will not necessarily ask questions in a linear sequence that mirrors the paper form. Instead, customer responses will determine which additional questions appear. All questions are pre-developed and presented in standardized language. As with dynamic forms, certain information fields will be required, and customers will not be able to submit forms unless all required fields are completed.

IMPORTANT: Although form questions will be presented in a new conversational manner, the resulting PDF generated after submission will be identical to the paper and fillable PDF versions of the form. Customers will be presented with a preview of the final PDF prior to submission to see how their responses to conversational form questions are reflected on the form, and to observe how form items corresponded to the conversational webform questions on screen. Customers will have the opportunity to edit any responses prior to submission. …

Can A Commission Save Social Security?

      From Howard Gleckman writing for Forbes about Congressional ideas for commissions to come up with plans to address Social Security’s long term funding problems:

… [T]he reality is, these sorts of bipartisan commissions only work when a president throws his full weight behind them and Congress really wants to fix a problem, rather than find an excuse to continue to do nothing. …

Nobody needs a panel of experts to develop ideas. We’ve known for decades how to fix the system. Congress instead needs to find the political will to act. …

The history of past commissions is clear, and depressing. My bookcase is filled with high-minded proposals made by expert panels, mostly to address budget deficits. Many included excellent suggestions. None went anywhere. …

     Who thinks there’s any will in Congress to actually do something about this now or any time soon?  Without that any commission plan is bound to fail.

Indefinite Suspension Of Advanced Leave

      I understand that Social Security has indefinitely suspended advanced leave. This is advanced leave, not advance leave. It’s leave granted in excess of what has already been earned that is to be made up later. Let’s say you have worked at the agency for a few years and are injured in a car wreck. You need to be out of work longer than the amount of sick and annual leave you’ve earned so far. I guess you now have to go on leave without pay rather than being advanced some leave to help you over a rough stretch. This directive doesn’t put some limit on advanced leave. It just summarily ends it. Of course, there was no negotiation with the employee unions over this. I’m sure they’ll sue.

You’re Chasing A Mirage

      From a press release from the House Ways and Means Committee:

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) delivered the following statement during debate in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Removing Barriers to Work for Disabled Americans Act (H.R. 8884): 

As prepared for delivery.

“I rise in support of H.R. 8884, the Removing Barriers to Work for Disabled Americans Act, introduced by our colleague from Georgia Representative Austin Scott. 

“Many Americans that are living with disabilities want to enter the workforce and seek gainful employment. In fact, an estimated 60 percent of Americans who receive benefits under the Social Security Disability Insurance program have stated a desire to return to work. And yet, less than 1 percent leave the DI program each year for a job. That is a gigantic gap between the number of disabled Americans who want to work and the number who successfully return to work.

“The Removing Barriers to Work for Disabled Americans Act seeks to shrink that gap by simply restoring the Social Security Administration’s authority to test drive solutions that can empower more of our fellow Americans to get back to work. Up until 2022, the SSA had such authority to run demonstration projects on improving work outcomes. With that authority expired and with so many disabled Americans still unable to successfully navigate the current program, we have to find a better way forward. 

     Sure, they want to return to work. They never wanted to be disabled to begin with. They have hazy ideas in their minds about getting better. The truth is that very, very few of them get better. The 12 month duration requirement to get disability benefits weeds out almost all of those who were going to get better. If you haven’t gotten better after 12 months, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever get better. You’ll probably get worse over time.

     Social Security ran return to work demonstration projects for decades. They were all dismal failures. It’s a waste of money. It’s chasing a mirage,

That Claim Of Saving $100 Million

      From a Treasury Department press release:

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service announced the successful implementation of a new government-wide payment verification process that helps stop federal payments from being sent to deceased individuals …

Since President Trump issued Executive Order 14249, Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, on March 25, 2025, Treasury has significantly expanded government-wide efforts to detect and prevent fraud and improper payments through the Do Not Pay program and new payment verification tools.

To date, Treasury has screened over 885 million payments totaling approximately $2.77 trillion as part of the new payment verification process. The screening has identified more than 4,900 payments worth approximately $99 million that were associated with deceased payees.  …

     Remember that claim from the Commissioner of Social Security that $100 million had been saved by identifying deceased payees, a claim that mystified us? I think we now know what he was talking about. That $99 million in alleged savings was throughout the federal government. Probably little of it was at Social Security. It’s not clear where it could have been saved since Social Security’s Death Master File has been used for many years throughout government to prevent improper payments. Perhaps the $99 million was nothing more than the sort of thing that was already being detected and prevented. It was certainly nothing that Bisignano should have been claiming credit for. Note that he only claimed credit for this on the Bannon podcast. Not much fact checking there.

Appointment Delays

      From Newsweek:

Millions of Social Security recipients are facing longer waits to secure claim appointments as the agency struggles to recover from historic staffing cuts. The delays affect how quickly retirees, disabled Americans and low‑income beneficiaries can access critical income and identity services. … 

Internal agency data show that only 64.6 percent of initial claims were scheduled within 30 days as of July 6, down from 78.1 percent a year earlier. In some regions, the rate recently fell below 45 percent, underscoring how widespread the delays have become. …

I Don’t Even Know What To Say

      Commissioner Bisignano appeared on Steve Bannon’s podcast today claiming that he has saved $100 million by terminating benefits to dead people.