Redetermination Regs Withdrawn

     The Social Security Administration had sent proposed new regulations to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on "Redeterminations When There Is a Reason To Believe Fraud or Similar Fault Was Involved in an Individual's Application for Benefits." OMB has to approve proposed new regulations before they can be published in the Federal Register for comments. Social Security has now withdrawn that proposal. We don't know exactly what was in the proposal. They only reveal that if the proposal is approved by OMB and gets published.

     Probably this proposal was withdrawn because of the recent decision of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Hicks v. Commissioner which held that the way Social Security had been doing redeterminations of cases where Eric Conn had previously represented claimants was unconstitutional and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. 

     I don't know what, if anything, this means about the path the agency will take from here in the Conn cases. In court filings Social Security has indicated that they are seeking the opinion of the Solicitor General. In general, Social Security seems to be an a "Mother, may I" mode on just about everything these days. The fact that there's an Acting Commissioner probably has a lot to do with it. The lack of clear direction from above may also have something to do with it.