Proposed Regulations On ALJ Hearings Withdrawn

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is part of the White House, must approve most proposed regulations before they are published in the Federal Register. Yesterday, OMB posted a notice that proposed Social Security regulations described as follows were withdrawn.

We propose to amend several regulations and provide new regulatory language to address inefficiencies in the hearings process. The amendments include provisions clarifying that claims denied by state Disability Determination Services and other adjudicators for “failure to cooperate” are technical denials rather than medical determinations, and providing flexibility in setting the time and place of hearings. We also intend to propose new regulatory provisions that will allow ALJs to dismiss a request for a hearing where a claimant has abandoned his or her claim and to specify regulatory standards that require ALJs to clearly articulate their rationale when issuing decisions on remanded claims.

Does anyone know what happened here?