From The Hill:
The new head of the agency responsible for administering Social Security and Medicare said Sunday he plans to make sure the agency survives well into the 2100s.
In a Sunday interview, Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano said the Trump administration and lawmakers plan to make major changes focused on cutting waste and fraud with the goal of keeping the trust funds behind Social Security and Medicare solvent. …
There are at least three ways of looking at this. Maybe he really thinks he can “save” Social Security by cutting “waste, fraud and abuse.” That would simply be delusional. There are no significant savings available. Any minor savings would require upfront funding which is out of the question and would be completely inadequate anyway. Still, I think the theory that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about is most likely. A second possibility is that he plans to cut benefits in some way inconsistent with the law. That would have to be a huge illegal cut and extremely controversial, probably suicidally so. I’m not even entertaining the possibility that he thinks he’ll steer cuts in Social Security through Congress. The third possibility is that he’s simply spouting bull. Maybe, but Bisignano comes from the reality based world so I doubt that.
21 comments:
You can either raise taxes or cut benefits or some combination of the two to ensure Trust fund solvency for the next 75 years. The various solutions are well know i.e. raise the cap, raise the retirement age, raise the FICA tax, some relatively minor adjustments in COLA or eligibility) and the debate has always been on exactly how to make those adjustments.
Cutting "waste, fraud, and abuse" has always been a mantra recited by those who don't want to make any hard (politically) choices. It is impossible to take those saying that mantra seriously.
As Elizabeth Warren pointed out, denial of service (in her example, through inadequate staffing) is a back-door cut in benefits. So look for them to wave the fraud flag and start dicking around with payments, likely first through the elimination of paper checks (Trump already signed that EO), then probably through axing the Direct Express program.
They just relaxed the rules of what you have to do before putting SSI cases in N20 status (failure to cooperate). They'll likely continue down that road- make it easier to suspend benefits when someone doesn't immediately respond to a review. Eliminate the requirements for a follow-up letter of phone call, just suspend em and move on.
All cabinet member have to follow the talking points or they are gone.
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was fired Thursday morning, three U.S. officials with direct knowledge confirmed to CBS News — after the leader appeared to publicly break with the Trump administration on whether to eliminate the nation's disaster relief agency.
Cameron Hamilton, FEMA's acting administrator, departs the nation's disaster relief agency roughly three weeks before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season and as Congress reviews the Trump administration's proposal to slash FEMA's budget, nixing $646 million in non-disaster grants during the 2026 fiscal year.
Why the Frank pile-on? Dude started a week ago. He’s still learning where the bathroom is…that is if he reports to HQ.
So sick of this already. A society in decline. Public rhetoric detached from reality. Probably more detached from reality than mid 1980s ussr. Its insane how detached public discourse/propaganda is from reality in usa
Fourth possibility: he plans on increasing the budget for program integrity workloads, and is misinformed on their bottom line impact.
These plans sound great and all, but before we move on tonight”saving SSA” does anyone have even just a simple org chart so we know who is working where? So many people are gone and moved etc and everything is taking 3-4 times as long as it used to for a response and some of that is because nobody knows what’s happening staff is left where. It’s completely unprofessional and kind of insane.
He's lying his butt off just like every other Trump Toady.
DOGE Cuts Leave Federal Staff Cleaning Their Own Toilets
https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musks-cuts-as-doge-chief-have-left-some-federal-staff-forced-to-clean-their-own-toilets/
Elon Musk‘s crusade against “wasteful” government spending under the Department of Government Efficiency has now reached the point that some government employees have been forced to clean their own bathrooms. Delayed approval for new contracts has resulted in a dire lack of janitorial staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), while holdups on IT hires mean the agency has also been repeatedly hit with unmanageable internet and phone service outages. The delay in getting the cleaners back in owes to new rules requiring top-level approval from political appointees at the Department of Commerce, of which NOAA is a part, with similar cost-cutting measures creating chaos at other agencies. At the Social Security Administration, the $1 spending limit placed on government credit cards by Musk’s DOGE initiative has resulted in some staff foregoing the use of basic office supplies, while officials at the Environmental Protection Agency are seeing their research stymied by having to ask permission for any new lab purchases.
. . .or invest the trust funds in some really hot Greenland condo mortgages b/c t-bills are just too risky and pay so little
Frank is teleworking from his home in NY with no plans to report to SSA HQ for any regular workdays.
Shame on you for not watching the video. You have accepted a second hand report as truth. Did he really say catching fraud was the solution? Or did he say catching fraud is important, and fixing the trust issues is equally important?
What are the trust issues? I’m so tired of this administration saying it’s time to restore trust in XYZ….its a talking point. Nobody has lost trust in anything except the White House following the law.
Bisignano already making changes. Bringing back HR as its own DC level component. I thought Leland said everything else besides the current structure was bloat? Maybe someone realized that HR is not “fraud, waste, or abuse.”
Frank and ALJs love telework. It’s too bad the rest of the agency doesn’t see the value and insists on being in an office five days a week.
Then Frank shouldn't be making statements about things he has no understanding of. And, I am sure he can find the bathroom in his own home just fine.
Congress is already doing that. I would not be shocked if he starts pushing a lot harder to meet them from the policy side to make it easier to cease people. "Due process" is a theoretical concept to these people.
Seriously because our HR specialist was re assigned to an FO, and now has to go through training. And all of his expertise in HR just up in smoke!
Where did you find this information? How would they recreate a DC level component during a hiring freeze with no budget? Frank has been running the show this whole time, Leland was he puppet.
Maybe Frank made a mistake but this has been shared openly internally.
So: delusional, evil, or "spouting bull"? How about all three?
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