Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) believes that federal employees, including Social Security employees have been sitting at home doing nothing while being paid over the last year. Apparently, he received a letter from Andrew Saul blaming employee unions for poor service at Social Security.
9 comments:
Saul's letter to Cassidy reads, in part: "I urge you to encourage the unions to continue engaging in meaningful dialogue with management...". This is coming from the head of the agency which was just found by an arbitrator of having illegally engaged in bad faith negotiating practices with their ALJ union. I mean you just can't make this stuff up !!!
Saul and Black are directly responsible for the poor service at SSA and should have been removed long ago. Remember when they slow walked the payment files for the stimulus checks when the most vulnerable Americans were in dire need?
https://www.govexec.com/management/2021/03/social-security-clears-way-stimulus-checks-after-accusations-malfeasance/172930/
anon@12:40pm,
I can't argue that Saul/Black are not responsible for SSA's general poor service and performance the last few years. Both are a waste of good oxygen as far as I am concerned.
However, as satisfying as it is to blame them for the stimulus issue, that wasn't their fault as Saul was exactly right.
The blame for that clusterflop squarely falls on Congress itself due to their failure to appropriate funds for that workload for SSA within the Cares Act.
Stimulus payments were not a Social Security related workload, so SSA could not legally spend a penny of trust fund money on that activity.
Any time Congress wants SSA to do non-trust fund related activities, they always have to allocate funding for it from general revenues. Congress knows this, as this has always been and is the way it always will be (unless you have a total political weenie like Saul in charge).
"The Intent of Congress" is worth exactly a bag of hot air unless it is accompanied by an appropriation when it comes to SSA.
Well, the assertions of Cassidy seem applicable to management folks at SSA. Who are they supervising while at home? The same folks they were actually supervising prior to the pandemic, namely no one.
Ya, cuz it was SOOO much better before. *sarcasm* I've had more luck now reaching someone over the phone, IN AN ACCEPTABLE timeframe (5-15 minutes). 120+ minutes before covid. I'm wondering just how much they're ACTUALLY getting done. Sounds like more, based on my experience. Leave 'em at home if that's what works!
Cassidy sounds like a right winger who is ignorant of how hard most federal employees work, whether they are at home or in the office. Also ignorant of how complex many of these jobs are. Or how many difficult decisions employees make, involving huge sums of money.
Some people are so anti government worker.They will never give SSA employees credit , and will always blame them for delays or other problems.
If Saul really said that it sounds like he would secretly still like to end telework like he did before,. But he cannot as now he is constrained by AFGE.
Sounds like Congress persons only complain about SSA when one or more of their constituents make a fuss. Pretty sure this Senator does not know the ins and outs of the process.
@3:29 Your point may be valid. But, a lot of folks who work at SSA don't know the ins and outs of the process either.
Let's be honest here... SSDI/SSI are important to basically NONE of the members of Congress of either (or any) party. Cassidy is mostly a run of the mill to country club Republican. Much more like Romney or Ben Sasse than Ted Cruz. Not against SSDI/SSI like Tom Cotton and Rand Paul. Probably wants to keep the "undeserving" from being approved while protecting the "truly disabled." Too many disabling conditions are, unfortunately, (medically) not objectively capable of being determined. Another words, science hasn't developed tools to objectively determine a person's true functional capacity. The "subjectivity" and arbitrary rules allow ALJs to make whatever decision they want to, regardless of whether a person can really work or not. This just brings criticism from politicians when "their person" gets "unfairly denied." Of course, they wash their hands of their own responsibility... Ultimately, that wiggle room (especially to deny those who really can't work) is on THEM. Only they can change the law!
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