I have posted about the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on service delivery at Social Security. Hardly anyone pays attention to most GAO reports. (Sorry, GAO, but you know it is the truth.) This report, however, is continuing to draw attention from the press.
Government Computer News has an article that contains this little paragraph, which is not something that Commissioner Astrue is too interested in seeing in the media:
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a union that represents most of Social Security's workforce, has released a press release on the GAO report urging that Commissioner Astrue step down.
Government Computer News has an article that contains this little paragraph, which is not something that Commissioner Astrue is too interested in seeing in the media:
Online services so far have not produced a big benefit, SSA staff members told GAO. Relatively few customers use them, and because of erroneous or missing information on some online forms additional time is required by staff to contact customers to gather or correct information.The Washington Post has a story out today with this quote from Commissioner Astrue:
Since becoming commissioner, I have repeatedly said we need timely and adequate funding in order to maintain the employee levels we need to serve the American public,... We have been aggressively simplifying processes and embracing new technologies in order to provide better service, but the continuing [budget] resolutions of the past three years have constrained hiring and damaged service delivery.Astrue has repeatedly called for the budgets that were recommended by former President Bush, but those budgets were barely enough to prevent Social Security's workforce from declining. He has consistently failed to ask for enough money to increase the number of employees at the Social Security Administration and has consistently downplayed Social Security's staffing problems and the service delivery problems that the staffing shortages have caused. These are simply facts which make Astrue vulnerable to criticism. Astrue seems to be thin-skinned, pugnacious and self-righteous. His personality and his situation are a bad combination.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a union that represents most of Social Security's workforce, has released a press release on the GAO report urging that Commissioner Astrue step down.
"Online services so far have not produced a big benefit, SSA staff members told GAO. Relatively few customers use them, and because of erroneous or missing information on some online forms additional time is required by staff to contact customers to gather or correct information."
ReplyDeleteWhy do I feel this has the Union's fingerprints all over it. The new iClaim has only been in operation for a few months, so I think it's kind of early to say no one is using it.
ARRRRGH! This is the Commissioner who said, only a few months ago, that complaints of understaffing were fiction.
ReplyDeleteAh, what wonderful freedom ignorance allows. You don't know anything about Astrue, hence this inane description: "Astrue seems to be thin-skinned, pugnacious and self-righteous." In fact, he is the opposite of this. He is probably the most gracious, thoughtful, and unpretentious Commissioner SSA has had in many years. And I have had direct contacts with all of SSA's Commissioner for the last 25 years.
ReplyDeleteThe truth of the matter is that those SSA employers who have had the opportunity to interact with Astrue directly, almost universally think he is doing the best job possible under the circumstances. Even liberal Democrats, like myself, want him to stay on.
The rhetoric of the Union is not in the least representative of the attitudes of SSA employees. The Union has a political agenda, which has to do with aggrandizement of its own power and perquisites. That is the prism through which they judge everything, and it is the distorting bias that renders their commentary profoundly untrustworthy.
You also mistake the difficulties SSA faces (budget and staffing shortfalls) for policy outcomes for which Astrue is somehow responsible. This is a false reading of the situation. Astrue has done more than any recent Commissioner to obtain more funding and staffing for SSA. The reality is that SSA will not be able to enjoy the levels of staffing/funding that it had in past decades. That is a reality that will not change even if Astrue were to leave.
And no matter who is Commissioner at SSA, you will always complain about their managment of the program. That is YOUR bias. You are in the business of fighting with the Agency over its decisions. That's how you get your paydays. So you are a professional complainer about SSA. Which is fine; we need people playing that role. But your readers should understand that your views are not objective or even accurate. They merely reflect your agenda.
"But your readers should understand that your views are not objective or even accurate. They merely reflect your agenda."
ReplyDeleteDouble Ditto
As a claimant representative, I agree and disagree with the above. The commenter is showing his own lack of understanding by alleging we who "are in the business of fighting with the Agency over its decisions" are biased because that is how we get our "paydays". Actually many a representative is an also an advocate. Objective advocacy, which is compensated by clients, hardly means one is a professional complainer. On the other hand, I have to agree that Astrue has been the best Commissioner I have seen and I have been doing this about 26 years (many of which were spent working for the agency). The commenter is right that the problems are not Astrue’s doing and he has I think made more genuine movement so far than any of the others. Perhaps both sides can view this without attacking personalities, but rather discussing the issues, which is why I read this blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm a CR in the field. I appreciate the job that Astrue is doing. He has been fighting for us to receive the funding we need and has been up front with Congress about the problems we face. The Union's views certainly don't represent mine.
ReplyDelete--Kevin
I am amazed by those who praise Astrue for being such a superior Commissioner. I have been in the field for over 30 years. He is virtually a non-entity. Hardly anyone pays attention to him, or what he says or does. Most people do not even read his issuances. If it were not for me as union rep posting info(often from this website), few would have any awareness of him. He has done nothing for the field. I do not dislike him. I just disregard him as being in any way relevant to improving SSA's woeful state.
ReplyDeleteThe retirement claim side of iClaim isn't half bad. The old ISBA application resulted in more complete applications, though.
ReplyDeleteiClaim on the disability side is a fragmented, disjointed, incomplete mess of a process. The people that designed it should be ashamed to call themselves software engineers. And the management folks who allowed them to craft this abomination should be demoted or fired.
Like every other system release put forth by the agency, it is poorly thought out and half done.
Like the 30 year SSA FO person above, I fail to understand what is so great about Astrue. All Commissioners "try to get us money". They all, unaccountably, fail. The Congress and new Prez got us the $1Billion in the Stim bill. That ain't tryin'--that's doing.
ReplyDeleteI doubt Astrue's efforts had much to do with this, but, if someone knows otherwise, please speak up. Unions, like other organizations, have institutional interests. That does not mean that everything they say is bunk. I myself am quite proud of my ability to come up with substantive complaints about this and every other COSS we've ever had. As I recall, I got my paychecks by working my fingers to the bone. The complaints were gravy.
"Like every other system release put forth by the agency, it is poorly thought out and half done."
ReplyDeleteLike the E-Gain system that they tried to ram down our throats.