Pressure For More ALJs in NY

From a press release issued by Senator Clinton (emphasis added):

With a massive backlog of pending disability cases continuing to build in Buffalo’s Social Security hearing office and other offices across New York State, U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton today demanded that the Social Security Administration (SSA) revamp their efforts to reduce case backlog. SSA recently announced that they hired 135 new Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) to help ease the burden so many offices across the country are feeling. However, only ten of these new hires were assigned to New York hearing offices, despite the fact that New York residents wait on average a year before they even receive an initial hearing of their case and almost two years before their cases are fully processed. Of the nine New York State hearing offices, only four were offered new staff. ...

Today, in response to the weak arguments involving office space and the disappointing allocation of new hires to New York SSA hearing offices, Schumer and Clinton wrote to Commissioner Astrue, demanding a detailed explanation of the allocation process and how the SSA assignments would help reduce backlog in New York. The senators also urged SSA to reconsider their current allocation plan so additional placements could be made the high-traffic New York hearing offices as soon as possible.

“It is beyond unacceptable that we have Buffalo residents waiting over a year or more for SSA to process their disability cases,” said Senator Schumer.

If Obama is elected and Astrue decides to hang on, he is going to end up feeling like a punching bag.