The nearest comparable situation to the one we have now with the Commissioner of Social Security holding over or not holding over into a new Administration was in 2008 after the election of Barack Obama. Then Commissioner Astrue was the first Commissioner confirmed to a fixed term in office. He had been nominated by a Republican President. Astrue's term extended into Obama's term. After Obama was elected I heard at least one person in a position to know say that there was no way Astrue could stay on after Obama took office. We didn't hear anything for more than a month after election day. However, on December 11, 2008 I was able to post about an interview that Astrue had given where he said he would stay in office during the Obama Presidency. We're further along than this in December and I have not heard a word aboutAndrew Saul's plans.
This situation is not completely the same as before. Astrue was acknowledged by all as competent; Saul, not so much. Astrue had stepped on some toes but not nearly to the extent of Andrew Saul, who seems to have gone out of his way to offend, particularly to offend employee unions which are an important Democratic constituency. Democrats definitely want Saul out. There is the issue now of whether Saul can be fired without cause. That constitutional issue had not emerged in 2008.
I don't know what's going to happen but it's surprising to me that Saul hasn't either said he's leaving soon or taken some action to let it be known that he's going to try to hang on.
10 comments:
Funny how you equate political disagreements with incompetence. As long as we keep insulting others simply because we disagree on politics, our future is not bright.
Ken Apfel was the first confirmed Commissioner after SSA became an independent agency within the executive branch.
Selia Law. Embrace it and get rid of Saul in the process.
If the landing team is doing enough digging, there won't even be a need to resort to Seila Law to remove Saul. The Biden Administration should be able to remove him for malfeasance and neglect of duty.
Does it matter? Saul's and Black's minions are already burrowed in the agency. And from OHO, Operations, and AC many harmful internal and external policies have already been implemented over the past year. And from what many of us remember, Obama basically ignored the agency his whole term. And over the past decade, those in power have bought into the almighty Big Data-driven worldview which has led to current and future decisions being pushed by algorithms, and not by fact, law, or the public good. And it’s not clear what Colvin is going to care enough about to advise Biden to tackle. It’s not clear if she will only focus on Operations and support Big Data as an infallible world view. So you will have to excuse many of us for having some doubt that much is going to be undone anytime soon. Hope springs eternal however.
SSA is so focused on reports and data that it forgets to look at how the work is actually being done, who is actually doing all the work, who is not doing any work, and who needs to be shown the door. Instead, they just compile numbers data and the whole process suffers and that equates to poor public service.
Pretty much agree about Astrue. Talked to him numerous times at NOSCCR conferences. He always seemed to show up and at least fake like he cared about what SSD/SSI attorneys were talking about. I started in this game around 2006 so I believe the prior SSA commish was someone named Barnhart but I could be mistaken.
I did not see much dropoff in production once Astrue took over. But I did see a lot of sneaky decisions to hurt claimants e.g. getting rid of the diabetes listing because of more obesity in America. Also he would always mess with attorneys about the existence of law firms.
But I would take Astrue over Better Not Call Saul.
Couldn't agree more.
I still want to know who this perfect would be commish is. Reps have a lobbyist, why are they not promoting a better alternative.
Who is the the savior you are looking for?
Not sure why the Commissioner cannot be someone who has worked for SSA. Is that so difficult to do? Of course, I think Berryhill worked for SSA and she seemed clueless.
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