What Struck Me About Today's Hearing

I have not yet been able to watch all of today's hearing. The thing that struck me most about what I was able to watch was the comments made by Senator Bunning. Bunning had previously been most insistent that Social Security's hearing backlog, at least, had nothing to do with budget. At this hearing Bunning talked about how getting the Social Security Administration $240 million above the President's recommended budget for the next fiscal year is "essential." He browbeat Linda McMahon about why her agency had not been more independent about submitting its own budget to Congress. I have seen Bunning browbeat other witnesses in the past and did not like it. I found his browbeating of McMahon especially unfortunate, since she is not responsible for Social Security's budget submissions. Perhaps I had misinterpreted some comments he made earlier or perhaps he is now seeing the light. Clearly, he now realizes that Social Security has a big budget problem. Perhaps, it is the office closures and the telephones not being answered. It has to be hard for a Senator to ignore that. If a fairly right wing Senator like Bunning is talking like this, things are changing.