A proposal to ban payments to people without Social Security numbers is circulating at the Social Security Administration, according to two employees. If implemented, the move could affect thousands of beneficiaries receiving retirement, disability and low-income benefits from the agency.
An SSA memo obtained by Government Executive notes that the agency currently can, at times, make someone a representative payee even if they don’t have an SSN. The payee, Romig noted, is not required to be eligible for benefits themselves.F
The new policy proposal would bar any payments to payees without SSNs, of which there are currently more than 170,000, according to the document. The Social Security Administration did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
One large group that could be affected by the proposed change would be children receiving Supplemental Security Income or disability benefits whose parents don’t have an SSN. Others impacted could include widows and other survivors of dead Americans living overseas. …
The agency needs to confirm that it has the authority to make this change, the memo notes. If SSA moves forward, it would need to “work” the thousands of cases, contacting the payees to submit a SSN or change the payee altogether to someone that has a number.
That task could be arduous, as finding payees is already so difficult that at times the agency turns to institutional payees like child welfare agencies, said Romig. SSA staff also have to assess the suitability of payees. …
[Former Commissioner] Astrue, discussing the increased risk of a cybersecurity failure in light of DOGE operatives’ access to sensitive SSA databases, urged the Senate Finance Committee to move swiftly on the nomination of Frank Bisignano to lead the agency, noting “he can’t possibly be any worse” than Dudek, who was being investigated for improperly sharing information with DOGE when he was put in his current role.
“I don’t attribute being a traitor to these people—I am attributing to them being idiots and not knowing what they’re doing,” he said. …
10 comments:
That’s why President Elon stated that illegals were getting Social Security benefits. Elon, do your homework before talking nonsense. By the way, how’s your Tesla stock doing these days?
"Encumbered by idiots, we pressed on"-Young Guns II
This could also affect US citizens living abroad whose payee is a citizen of the country where the beneficiary is living. .
Make no mistake about it. Dudek will gladly terminate those benefits.
this may have consequences the people enacting this regulation do not desire (SSA will have to issue these payees SSNs).
§ 422.104. Who can be assigned a social security number.
(3) An alien who cannot provide evidence of alien status showing lawful admission to the U.S., or an alien with evidence of lawful admission but without authority to work in the U.S., if the evidence described in § 422.107(e) does not exist, but only for a valid nonwork reason. We consider you to have a valid nonwork reason if:
(i) You need a social security number to satisfy a Federal statute or regulation that requires you to have a social security number in order to receive a Federally-funded benefit to which you have otherwise established entitlement and you reside either in or outside the U.S.; or
My guess would be that many, maybe most, of representative payees not having SSANs is simply because no one ever asked them for one.
For ssi at least -it is because the parents don’t have ssn’s—where with manual system inputs you can make those parents the payee.. so I can see headlines .. ..DOGE stops SSA ILLEGAL ALIEN FRAUD ..and removes ability for illegals to cash SSA checks.. the agency looks embarrassed and that’s where they stop teleclaims for Fraud..
There are many truly disabled children that have parents without numbers. They want to dismantle benefits to the citizens by targeting their parents. Or imagine being married to a worker who worked years in this country but because you live outside you are forced to lose your only income because of this proposed decision. Evil.
Asking for the rep payee SSN is part of the rep payee app.
Individuals without legal status in the US do not have valid SSNs. Ask them all you want.
The headline after stopping the "supposed" fraud: American children DYING as SSA refuses to pay their benefits. Congressional hearings to investigate. I'm actually surprised DOGE hasn't proposed eliminating SSI entirely. If cruelty is the point, that would have an immediate impact.
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