Folks remember Martin O’Malley was here less than a year. In fact he speedily quit as soon as we could to pursue other opportunities. But now he’s Mr. Social Security? Knows the system better than Charles himself. Sure, let’s see what ball Marty chases next. Maybe another presidential run?
4:09 Thanks for your enlightening contribution to the conversation. Such a great use of the English language - just eight little words bereft of punctuation - yet you provide tremendous insight into your content and character and depth of understanding of the issues facing SSA and the public. Well done! Looking forward to your skillful analysis of the next Top Chef episode after you watch it tonight from Mom's basement.
I watched the webinar live. It seemed like an event to generate press coverage. The media was present and questions were read from reporters. I think the point was to generate articles and columns to get the public informed of the potential dangers of DOGE's actions. This will hopefully lead to growing pressure on Congress. A rep from NAACP spoke about how they were able to generate hundreds of thousands of congressional calls from its members. However, I didn't hear anything said that was new to regular readers of this blog or the reporting that WaPost has been doing.
One thing that did strike me, however, is the complete different tone we're getting from NOSSCR. I've watched several NOSSCR seminars on this topic and while they're concerned, they're certainly not taking the same sky-is-falling response.
The longer this goes on unchallenged, the more these “speculative ideas” become reality. If you haven’t noticed, Republican Congress members are either silent on this or outright lying. Unless someone stops this, we are headed toward a collapse. We are losing valuable employees each day. There is no way we can take care of these caseloads with less staff. I know we are being told that automation and AI will solve all of this, but that is a lie. Retirement and disability are very complex programs. This is not something for amateur hour. There isn’t a backup retirement and disability program when DOGE screws this up.
They want to ensure their money stream remains intact. So they stay positive. They are concerned about disruption. Appointed Representatives work on deferred outcomes that result in getting paid sometime in the future. Always have a number in the pipeline. Impending service delays mean their pipeline will grow.
Wall Street is salivating on getting their hands on Social Security.
At the BlackRock retirement summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, CEO Larry Fink said he supports more individual ownership in Social Security, though he said he would not necessarily use the term privatizing because it has toxic connotations.
“The problem we have now, we have a plan called Social Security that doesn’t grow with the economy,” Fink said.
I would not trust NOSSCR to effectively represent the interests of Social Security beneficiaries. Their recent public statements appear more focused on maintaining favor with the current administration than on advocating for the claimants they serve. Just a perspective.
SSA is an agency that is the most public face of the Government and to make draconian cuts in its employees is a disservice to the American public. I can understand rooting out fraud and abuse, but to cut or down grade hard working employees is not operationally, morally or politically sound. I am sure some cuts can be made, but to not involve those involved in the operations is fool-hardy. Cutting from 10 to 4 Regions and leaving thousands of staffers in limbo is not a way to build moral or "espirit de corp". For example the Philadelphia Region encompasses Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Within the region, we maintain 131 field offices, 18 hearings offices, 6 Disability Determination offices, 5 Cooperative Disability Investigations (CDI) units, 3 teleservice centers, 1 Social Security Card Center and the Mid-Atlantic Program Service Center (MATPSC). With a merger into the Northeast Region and under a very small Regional Office in Boston, those local support employees are being swept out of a job. Boston has no knowledge of Philadelphia and its unique service areas. The impact on those Region 3 employees is immeasurable - from leaving no local support to working offices, losing income to no longer trusting a fair government. I think it is in Trump's best interest to put a stop on this meat-cleaver approach toward SSA employees and proceed with a reduction plan in cooperation with the employees on the ground. I believe continuing this wholesale firing of employees will come back to bit him and in turn the whole MAGA movement.
The American Trump-voting public is too brainwashed and dumb to learn from its mistakes. These are the same idiots who watched Trump sow chaos through a pandemic, undermining its faith in his own administration’s public health efforts, resulting in over a million preventable deaths and unprecedented damage to the economy. And hardly any of them ever even thought it might not make sense to turn the presidency over to someone else. These people need to be put into diapers and spoonfed by nannies. They’re far beyond the point at which they can learn lessons.
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.
There are several scenarios where people without SSNs accept benefits as the “representative payee” on behalf of eligible beneficiaries—including most disabled children, as well as elderly or disabled adults, said Kathleen Romig, the director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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.
21 comments:
That thread was worthless and unilluminating. Not a single thing beyond speculation.
Thanks for weighing in, Leland!
You can tell it's a crisis when Michael Astrue and Martin O'Malley are agreeing on something.
Just a bunch of washed out government hacks
Don’t be mad they were better commissioners than you Leeland. At least they didn’t sell out America to the oligarchy.
Folks remember Martin O’Malley was here less than a year. In fact he speedily quit as soon as we could to pursue other opportunities. But now he’s Mr. Social Security? Knows the system better than Charles himself. Sure, let’s see what ball Marty chases next. Maybe another presidential run?
4:09 Thanks for your enlightening contribution to the conversation. Such a great use of the English language - just eight little words bereft of punctuation - yet you provide tremendous insight into your content and character and depth of understanding of the issues facing SSA and the public. Well done! Looking forward to your skillful analysis of the next Top Chef episode after you watch it tonight from Mom's basement.
We went past crisis. The damage is done. Recovery for the agency, if it survives, will take decades.
I watched the webinar live. It seemed like an event to generate press coverage. The media was present and questions were read from reporters. I think the point was to generate articles and columns to get the public informed of the potential dangers of DOGE's actions. This will hopefully lead to growing pressure on Congress. A rep from NAACP spoke about how they were able to generate hundreds of thousands of congressional calls from its members. However, I didn't hear anything said that was new to regular readers of this blog or the reporting that WaPost has been doing.
One thing that did strike me, however, is the complete different tone we're getting from NOSSCR. I've watched several NOSSCR seminars on this topic and while they're concerned, they're certainly not taking the same sky-is-falling response.
The longer this goes on unchallenged, the more these “speculative ideas” become reality. If you haven’t noticed, Republican Congress members are either silent on this or outright lying. Unless someone stops this, we are headed toward a collapse. We are losing valuable employees each day. There is no way we can take care of these caseloads with less staff. I know we are being told that automation and AI will solve all of this, but that is a lie. Retirement and disability are very complex programs. This is not something for amateur hour. There isn’t a backup retirement and disability program when DOGE screws this up.
Quitting? Where were you when O’Malley implanted his own RTO and caused dozens to leave? I agree with you but O’Malley is a jerk not an ally.
I was very impressed with Mr. O’Malley’s knowledge of SSA that he gained in less than a year. He is very smart.
O’Malley and Astrue are Patriots.
They want to ensure their money stream remains intact. So they stay positive. They are concerned about disruption. Appointed Representatives work on deferred outcomes that result in getting paid sometime in the future. Always have a number in the pipeline. Impending service delays mean their pipeline will grow.
Let it break. It will be hell for us SSA folks and the public but it’s the only way people will learn.
Wall Street is salivating on getting their hands on Social Security.
At the BlackRock retirement summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, CEO Larry Fink said he supports more individual ownership in Social Security, though he said he would not necessarily use the term privatizing because it has toxic connotations.
“The problem we have now, we have a plan called Social Security that doesn’t grow with the economy,” Fink said.
I would not trust NOSSCR to effectively represent the interests of Social Security beneficiaries. Their recent public statements appear more focused on maintaining favor with the current administration than on advocating for the claimants they serve. Just a perspective.
SSA is an agency that is the most public face of the Government and to make draconian cuts in its employees is a disservice to the American public. I can understand rooting out fraud and abuse, but to cut or down grade hard working employees is not operationally, morally or politically sound. I am sure some cuts can be made, but to not involve those involved in the operations is fool-hardy. Cutting from 10 to 4 Regions and leaving thousands of staffers in limbo is not a way to build moral or "espirit de corp".
For example the Philadelphia Region encompasses Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Within the region, we maintain 131 field offices, 18 hearings offices, 6 Disability Determination offices, 5 Cooperative Disability Investigations (CDI) units, 3 teleservice centers, 1 Social Security Card Center and the Mid-Atlantic Program Service Center (MATPSC). With a merger into the Northeast Region and under a very small Regional Office in Boston, those local support employees are being swept out of a job. Boston has no knowledge of Philadelphia and its unique service areas. The impact on those Region 3 employees is immeasurable - from leaving no local support to working offices, losing income to no longer trusting a fair government.
I think it is in Trump's best interest to put a stop on this meat-cleaver approach toward SSA employees and proceed with a reduction plan in cooperation with the employees on the ground. I believe continuing this wholesale firing of employees will come back to bit him and in turn the whole MAGA movement.
The American Trump-voting public is too brainwashed and dumb to learn from its mistakes. These are the same idiots who watched Trump sow chaos through a pandemic, undermining its faith in his own administration’s public health efforts, resulting in over a million preventable deaths and unprecedented damage to the economy. And hardly any of them ever even thought it might not make sense to turn the presidency over to someone else. These people need to be put into diapers and spoonfed by nannies. They’re far beyond the point at which they can learn lessons.
Show some respect. They'll be the next ACOSS once Dude pisses Trump off.
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.
There are several scenarios where people without SSNs accept benefits as the “representative payee” on behalf of eligible beneficiaries—including most disabled children, as well as elderly or disabled adults, said Kathleen Romig, the director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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.
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