From NextGov:
Republicans had majorities in Congress for twelve years. During this time they crippled the Social Security Administration with grossly inadequate appropriations. Neither Republicans in Congress nor the Republican appointed inspector general at Social Security said a word about the need for a new national computing center until Barack Obama became President. Current Republican concerns about Social Security's ability to operate in the future ring hollow to me.
Key Republican aides met with the Social Security Administration's internal investigator on Thursday to discuss lingering concerns that the agency's aging data center will not be able to manage an increasing workload as millions more baby boomers retire.Am I being too cynical when I wonder if Republicans are mostly concerned that money be spent not on personnel, who would mostly be union members and Democrats, but on buildings and equipment constructed or supplied by contractors who would mostly be Republicans? I have no doubt that the national computing center needs to be replaced but why is this such an incredibly urgent priority for Republicans since we now have a backup computing center in Durham, NC? And by the way, the Inspector General who recommended accelerating construction of the national computing center is a Republican appointee.
Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee, and Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee's ranking member, sent a letter in February requesting that the SSA inspector general assess the agency's overall future information technology plans. In June, the inspector general found that the agency must accelerate construction of a new data center and develop contingency plans in the event its backup datacenter cannot support the agency's increasing workload if the new data center is not completed by 2015, the year SSA estimates the center will be operational. ...
On Thursday, Grassley's staff met with the inspector general about the latest report, discussed the new data center and asked the agency to keep the senator apprised of the situation, a spokeswoman said. Baucus had no response to the report.
Republicans had majorities in Congress for twelve years. During this time they crippled the Social Security Administration with grossly inadequate appropriations. Neither Republicans in Congress nor the Republican appointed inspector general at Social Security said a word about the need for a new national computing center until Barack Obama became President. Current Republican concerns about Social Security's ability to operate in the future ring hollow to me.
1 comment:
Concerned about bricks, mortar, data and not the public or staffing levels. Yeah, well, it's the contract that counts. Otherwise, does the SSA OIG routinely meet with groups of Senators without appearing in a hearing for sworn public testimony? True, these Senators all serve on the Senate Finance committee, but their names sound awfully familiar in the context of the recent Health Care Reform debate. Hmmmmm. NO
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