Does It Even Matter?
From a press release:
House Ways and Means Social Security
Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX) announced today that the Subcommittee
will hold a hearing entitled “Lacking a Leader: Challenges Facing the SSA After
Over 5 Years of Acting Commissioners” on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 in 1100 Longworth House Office
Building, beginning at 10:00 AM. The hearing will focus on the
need for a Senate-confirmed Commissioner to lead the Social Security
Administration (SSA), the challenges and limitations the SSA faces when it is
led by an Acting Commissioner, and the legal framework for filling a vacancy. ...
The Social Security Administration has been without
a Senate-confirmed Commissioner for more than five years since Commissioner
Michael Astrue’s term expired on January 19, 2013. The current Acting
Commissioner, Nancy Berryhill, has served in that role since January 20, 2017.
The current six-year term for a Senate-confirmed Commissioner expires on
January 19, 2019.
So the folks heading Ways & Means, who know that their failure in leadership to adequately fund agency operations is what has caused the unpopular backlog and many of SSA's ills, is trying to shift the blame onto the fact that there is an Acting Commissioner instead of a confirmed one? Good to see those old men are still spry enough to do the Washington two-step.
ReplyDeletessa could use more professional managers. Some Ph.d.s in management at each component would be highly desirable. If the new COSS had that attitude it would help.
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