From the New Hampshire Bulletin:
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley moved one step closer Tuesday to becoming the next Social Security commissioner, a role that would become increasingly difficult as the program inches closer to insolvency during the next decade.
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee voted, 17-10, to send O’Malley’s nomination to the floor, though it’s not clear how soon the entire chamber will vote on confirmation. All the panel’s Democrats and Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina voted to advance his nomination. ...
Trying to save SSA is a difficult task. Preventing a 25% across the board SSA cut in 2034 would go a long way to bringing confidence back to an ailing agency. You will be inheriting an overworked labor force that are trying their best with limited resources.
ReplyDeleteAccording to his own testimony, he basically wants to run HOs and field offices the way Amazon runs its warehouses. Fool probably actually believes those are the cheery bulls**t potemkin wonderlands Amazon’s warped commercials portray them as. Get ready for 80-90% attrition and somehow even worse service along with it
DeleteUltimately, Congress will have to make it a legislative priority to deal with the trust fund and adequately fund agency staffing. Both parties could give a rip less. Republicans go the lazy route and make across the board cuts. Democrats run their mouths, but don't do anything about SSA.
ReplyDeleteA new commish won't come equipped with pixie dust to magically solve these problems, but hopefully he will be focused on something more constructive than a DEI agenda.
Does the Commissioner have that much to do with individual cases? For example, I was denied by an ALJ when Berryhill was in charge and approved by an ALJ when Saul was in charge.
ReplyDeleteIf this man has any sense, he will clean house from the top down ... same old managers, same old dysfunctional ideas... When Saul was in charge I remember one of the Regional Chief Judges trying to have a private conversation with him - impossible - so surrounded by people who did not want the Commissioner to know what was really going on... protecting themselves... not the public. Some of the best ideas might come from private one on one conversations with employees in the trenches rather than upper level managers who have no clue what goes on in field and hearing offices. He might also find out about upper management covering up for each other when unethical things occur and the protect each other...
ReplyDeleteUpper management complains about back logs and slow processing times... why don't they explain why employees in hearing offices have been having to make case processing entries in two computer systems since 2020 - the Agency still can't get it together to combine this into one system so employees have to make dual entries (time consuming) and spend time in virtually useless training each month... another example of incompetence - releasing something that was not ready to be put into use...
And did anyone mention ERAP - another system on its way to failure... just ask them about the failed National Scheduling Unit that people tried to tell them would not work ... they did not listen, spent lots of money and now whine about budget and employees...