The federal fiscal year ends on September 30. Without some sort of appropriation bill passed before then, there will be a federal government shutdown on October 1. Usually, a continuing resolution (CR) is passed which allows the government to keep functioning based upon the prior year's rate of spending. Every year "anomalies" are added to the CR allowing additional funding for some functions. The Biden Administration has sought an "anomaly" to give additional funding to the Social Security Administration. The CR which has been agreed to contains no "anomaly" for Social Security. This is not good for now and portends an inadequate regular appropriation. Social Security has been an agency which appears to have been disfavored by appropriators for many years.
Sep 23, 2024
No Anomaly For SSA
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The question now is if SSA employees get furloughed and for how many days?
While Sunday's deal excludes the contentious voting legislation, it does propose $231 million in additional funding for the U.S. Secret Service. The funding comes after a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump in July, grazing his ear, and another man was discovered this month lying in wait just outside the fence of a Florida golf course where Trump was playing.
Does anyone think that Republicans will be in any mood to negotiate if they lose Congress after the election? It is is best to get a longer CR now.
Sounds like 20 working days, total of 2 pay periods. That said, it's likely 1 week at a time. If the unions would allow, I'd happily volunteer for the furlough.
And about half of those losing an entire month’s salary will bo rooting for and re-electing the very same demons who inflicted this on them.
No, it would be best for those clowns to pull their noses out of Trump’s rear end and give the agency the funding it needs to carry out its mission.
Johnson and other GOP leaders are pleading with their party not to allow a shutdown just five weeks before Election Day, which would be unprecedented in modern times. Swing-district Republicans say it would be a terrible move, as their party would likely get blamed by voters
from a work perspective - i'm curious as to whether the COSS will keep pushing past the breaking point or actually scale back what we can do "less with less". Close Wednesday for one and start shuttering offices that barely are holding on. That should rattle many congressional districts. As for the furloughs, i suspect we will find a way to hold on to much less than 20 days but hiring freezes, no OT and further degradation will absolutely follow. I foresee 365 days being the norm for initial decisions. Furthermore, i also see the exodus to the door. As a manager of a large field office - we continue to see losses to other agencies - this will exacerbate the problem.
I’m wondering as a field office manager if you or your supervisors are leading by example and lending a hand to your employees by taking SS-5’s or easy tasks during their breaks. My guess it’s a hard NO since you are on another meeting with your supervisors about nothing.
Message from the top…
As a manager of a large field office - we continue to see losses to other agencies - this will exacerbate the problem.
Congress is a disgrace (both parties).
Actually an even easier way to avoid a budget shortfall: COSS should immediately rescind the RTO, apologize to all employees, and close down offices where employees can telework. Instead he's attempting to open an office in downtown Seattle which would cost a significant amount. He's also lost many employees due to the RTO. He should have no complaints about budget until he stops forcing employees to return to the office and running up costs. Oh, and cancel all his damn stupid videos while at it.
Bro, read the room. Your full time telework proposal has no political support on either side of the aisle. Give it up already.
@932. Are there offices that pay less rent/utilities, etc if half the staff is there vs fully staffed? Even during Covid there were a few management people in my FO. I just assumed the rent was the same. We have several years left on a 15 year lease.
The deck is stacked against federal employees….
JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon is not a fan of hybrid working—so much so, that he’s even taking issue with the few days Washington, D.C. federal employees work from home.
While speaking on stage about the state of politics in America at The Atlantic Festival in the nation's capital, Dimon said he’d “make Washington, D.C. go back to work.”
“I can't believe, when I come down here, the empty buildings. The people who work for you not going to the office,” Dimon added. "That bothers me. I don't allow that at JP[Morgan].”
@931. Likely a generational thing. I had a law firm owner who did not have a computer on his desk. He still dictated everything. He intensely disliked people in their offices working away on their computers instead of being in sit down meetings or on the phone, because he could not actually see the work people were doing on their computers. (Ie. briefing, responding to discovery etc). I suspect Mr. Dimon has the same kind of blinders on. If he can't "see" the productive it must not be happening. And because he can't figure out how to work that way, it must be a bad way to get things done. -- And lest you think my example is some aged time period, I was working for that firm in 2019. That owner did not manage the pandemic environment well at all.
Or maybe it's that JPM Chase has a portfolio of commercial real estate and the value has tanked considerably. The same leadership believes if only they can get employees back in the office, their portfolios will have significant value again to offload onto an unsuspecting investor. Along with their typewriters.
Dimon has unloaded a large portion of his own JPM stock holdings this year per the SEC. He likely knows something about the future write downs at JPM.
Good conversation re telework going. Read the room? Well, tell that to ALJs, OHO and OAO, all of whom remain on full-time telework. Many other divisions as well. When you have major attrition AND a budget shortfall, you cut where you can, and returning workers home to cut costs is wise. Regarding the idea of less rent/utilities, that kind of thing can always be saved. They can pay to break leases, close shop, and consolidate. Millions in savings right there, including less money spent on things like security, computers, etc... But if we wall worked from home, who would produce the Commissioner's videos?
@220, it is true that JP Morgan and Amazon are back in office and in some cases five days a week. But there is an obvious difference between them and SSA: compensation. Many of those being returned to offices work on teams where they do collaborate, and make north of $500K in stock options and more. No one at SSA is making that much, and many don't collaborate in their jobs.
Hate to bring things back on topic, but any further news of furloughs or office hour reductions? Not all of us are attys, some in social services interact with the agency a bunch and need to know what is coming before we are overwhelmed with confused people.
The COSS has said he will begin furloughs if we go to CR and that won't be until we are officially into FY 2025 on Tue, Oct 1st. SSI, RIB and DIB checks will still go out. FO's and OHO won't go dark. We didn't in 2012 but longer wait times for in person and phone service are likely.
I’d suggest you tell your clients to drop the fantasy that wealth is going to trickle into their lap any day now, and quit voting for the redneck ghouls who keep doing this sort of thing to them.
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