“A Maniacal Focus”

      From The Signal of Santa Clarita Valley:

According to Social Security Administration Commissioner and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano, the agency under President Donald Trump is taking major steps to modernize its systems and root out waste and fraud. 

“I would say I’m bringing an operational focus to it that I … honed in all my years of being at the top of the largest financial institutions of the world,” Bisignano told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” host Jan Jekeliek.  …

“Getting payments right is the most important thing, being able to — given the amount of money that we’re flowing — and that’s what we’ve had a maniacal focus on while delivering customer service at a level that they’ve never seen before,” Bisignano said.  …

2% Growth In SSA Workforce Projected But There Are So Many Questions

      From a Government Executive article on what is mostly intended to be staffing cuts at federal agencies:

… The Social Security Administration is looking to grow its workforce by 2% after shedding thousands of employees over the last 15 months. The agency said it will “hire strategically across our organization,” with a particular focus on front-line staff.  …

     How can they increase staffing even modestly with what will amount to a cut in the appropriation when inflation is considered? Are they playing games, assuming Congress will give the agency more than what has been requested? Maybe they just assume theyll have money because they’ll get rid of largely mythical “waste, fraud and abuse.” Maybe it’s a complete fudge. Of course, there’s always the question — why did you force so many experienced productive employees out of their jobs only to hire others who won’t really be productive for months, if not years?

Warning Issued

      From WAVY:

The Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General is warning people of a scam targeting retirees.

The OIS reports a sharp increase in scam activity, where bad actors are contacting people via email, claiming to have a social security statement ready to download.

Officials warns that clicking any link from a scam could lead to monetary loss, identity theft, or having your data compromised.

“We are seeing a sharp increase in fraudulent emails designed to look like official Social Security Administration communications,” said Michelle L. Anderson, Assistant Inspector General for Audit as First Assistant. “These messages are not from Social Security. Anyone who receives one should delete it immediately and report it.” …

Even More Sought For GPO-WEP People

      From FEDweek:

As many as several million people have not received full back payments related to the repeal of the government pension offset and windfall elimination provision due to how the SSA interpreted the retroactive payment eligibility under the GPO-WEP repeal law, a bipartisan group of senators has said. …

The GPO had reduced, and in many cases eliminated, spousal or survivor Social Security benefits of such persons. The WEP has reduced the personally earned Social Security benefits of such persons based on other earnings—such as employment before, after or on the side during, a federal career—for which they did pay into Social Security (unless those earnings exceeded an annual threshold for at least 30 years). …

The ongoing issue relates to those who had not applied for Social Security benefits while the GPO was in effect because it would have eliminated them. Organizations such as the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association last year encouraged such persons to file for benefits. However, citing a general provision limiting retroactive payments for new Social Security applicants, the SSA said they would be eligible for only six months of retroactive payments at most. …

They urged the SSA to “follow the plain text of the SSFA and provide one-year of retroactivity (beginning in January 2024) to all applicants regardless of application date.”

President’s Budget Calls For Flat Appropriation For SSA

      The President’s budget for the fiscal year beginning on October 1st of this year is out. It calls for a flat appropriation for the Social Security Administration, neither increased nor decreased from the current fiscal year. However, considering inflation, which is heading up significantly over the next year this would amount to a significant cut in the agency’s effective operating budget.

     Don’t get too excited about the President’s budget proposal for it's merely a proposal. It’s up to Congress to pass appropriations acts. The problem with Congress is that Republican Congressional leaders aren’t all that much more interested in adequately funding the Social Security Administration than the President. The silver lining is that there probably won’t be an appropriation act covering Social Security until after the first of next year when a new Congress will be seated. That Congress may be more sympathetic to SSA than the current one.

The Start Of Enlightenment: Go Slowly Until You Know All The Consequences Of Your Plan

      From NEXTGOV/FCW:

The Social Security Administration is delaying its rollout of new systems to centralize claims processing and appointment scheduling and pivoting to a pilot approach, according to internal emails obtained by Nextgov/FCW. 

SSA had intended to debut these new systems early this month. They were expected to be a major shift in how the agency operates, moving from processing claims locally to a national system.

The optics of such a change factored into SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano’s decision to delay the rollout of the new systems — “particularly where customers may expect access to their local office,” read an internal email sent Monday. 

It also outlined the importance of the agency moving slowly to make sure the effects on customer experience are fully understood before the National Appointment Scheduling Calendar and National Workload Management system are implemented broadly. Bisignano had touted the plans as coming improvements to staff just last week in an internal email. …

The decision to pilot the changes will allow the agency to test if the expected efficiencies are realized and “ensure we maintain customer confidence” before a wider launch, the email announcing the change said. Details on the pilot are forthcoming, it said, after the agency has spent months preparing for the national rollout. …

Bisignano Controversial At IRS

     From Politico:

… The unusual nature of [Bisignano’s] role [as “CEO” of the IRS] — one that doesn’t exist in federal law — is raising questions about who’s really in charge of the agency as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent holds the title of acting IRS commissioner. Fueling the scrutiny is the fact that Bisignano also serves as commissioner of the Social Security Administration. …

The unusual nature of Bisignano’s position is at the heart of concerns voiced by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as well as agency staff over whether he can be a change agent for an agency that’s struggled to improve customer service after dramatic swings in leadership and operations since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. The questions are set to be aired publicly when he appears for the first time before the Senate Finance Committee on April 15, just as the first tax filing season of Trump’s second term comes to a close. …

Six people at the IRS, who were granted anonymity to avoid retribution, described a leader who has claimed credit for others’ work, sown discord and acted as Trump’s lieutenant. …

One IRS official called Bisignano “a fake” and said the only notable recent update to the refund tool was making the service accessible through “individual online accounts,” which happened before he came to the agency. The official said Bisignano’s order for the IRS to review and justify contracts made him a “single person chokepoint for procurement” who impaired the agency’s ability to move forward on efforts like using artificial intelligence to aid with tax collection. …

What Do You Think?

      This is a comment that I allowed to be posted yesterday concerning agency employees saying they were afraid of reporting misconduct:

Doesn't make sense. The agency has an increased emphasis on catching and stopping fraud. My office has been eagerly assisting such efforts. No one is afraid. We wake up motivated each day.

     To my eye that last sentence looks like something that a paid shill came up with, or, perhaps more likely, AI wrote it. I decided to post it since it wasn’t clear. There are others which are far more obvious, even humorous examples, that I quickly blocked

     What do you think I ought to do about these? Allow them to post so there’s a vigorous debate? Reject them if they don’t ring true to me even though I may reject a few genuine comments? Muddle through as best I can? Allow the most ridiculous examples with some attached commentary so you can be amused or angered by them?