Nov 1, 2023

Grassley Undecided On O'Malley Nomination

     From Radio Iowa:

The Democrat who finished third in the 2016 Iowa Caucuses is now being considered for the post of commissioner of Social Security. Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley will go before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee this week for his nomination hearing, and Republican Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley will be among the lawmakers asking him questions.

“I did meet with him in my office a month ago and I thought it was a very worthwhile meeting,” Grassley says. “I think his heart is in the right place, but I’m going to wait until the hearing’s over to decide whether to vote for him.”

The long-term viability of Social Security is the subject of much concern, but Grassley says they likely won’t be talking with O’Malley about that topic during the hearing on Thursday.

“I think we’re going to be more concerned about how he runs the Social Security Administration,” Grassley says, “and is he going to get people from remote work back into the offices around the country so they can serve the people better?” ...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lol, like clockwork 90 year-old Grassley takes this as an opportunity to demonize remote work.
It is well beyond time for Chuck to hang it up, but at this point I guess he is waiting for the reaper to force his hand, same as Feinstein.

Anonymous said...

Could be hard to say that ALL offices in SSA need to be back in person when places like OHO had their productivity go UP since starting increased telework. Local offices - yes we need people there to help the walk-ins and appointments. But let's not paint all of SSA with a broad brush out of ignorance of the organization as a whole.

Anonymous said...

The GOP's long standing goal for decades, has been to reduce the size of the federal workforce. They know the game. They know that if they force RTO, attrition will go up. Let's face it, SSA is not getting any budget increases for years to come, which means those employees that leave/retire won't be replaced any time soon. Death by 1000 cuts is the goal, make service terrible on the grounds of "improving service", then push for as many government entities as possible to be privatized (Medicare, Social Security, USPS, etc). It's doubtful that Chuck Grassley can even open a PDF on his computer, let alone know anything or be competent on the topic of remote work.

Anonymous said...

Chuck Grassley is not competent on any topic. He takes pride in acting like a "dumb farmer".