Recording The Undead

      From a press release:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released an audit report, Beneficiaries Incorrectly Recorded as Deceased (032311).  The audit examined whether SSA employees complied with Agency policies when correcting the records of living beneficiaries who were incorrectly recorded as deceased.  …

The OIG reviewed a random sample of beneficiaries whom SSA recorded as deceased between January 2020 and December 2024 and later removed the death records from the Numident (and thereby removing such records from the DMF).  Auditors found that, when SSA technicians corrected 45 percent of the incorrect death records, they did not document why the deaths were recorded in the first place, or why they were subsequently removed, as required by Agency policy. …

SSA To Promote Trump Accounts

      From a Social Security press release:

Today, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced it is launching processes for parents to enroll newborns in Trump Accounts. This automatic system will help ensure that every newborn has the opportunity to benefit from a Trump Account from the start of life. …

Starting next week, Social Security will update guidance to hospitals to include Trump Account enrollment information.  SSA will assist the states to modify their existing hospital forms used by parents to apply for Social Security numbers through the Enumeration at Birth (EAB) program to include the automatic creation of a Trump Account. Future Social Security card mailers for newborns will also include information to inform parents about the benefits of Trump Accounts and convenient and streamlined ways to open an account. …

Happy Birthday America

 

Not created by SSA. ChatGPA did it at my prompt.

The Questions Had To Be Asked

      From the Washington Post (emphasis added):

To commemorate America’s 250th birthday, the Social Security Administration will issue limited-edition Social Security cards to babies born from Thursday to the end of the year.
The cards look similar to the standard blue wallet-sized Social Security cards the agency has issued for decades, but they are stamped with the “Freedom 250″ logo. Freedom 250 is the public-private initiative the Trump administration launched last year to organize events — often aligned with the administration — for the nation’s semiquincentennial. It is different from America250, a nonprofit established by Congress in 2016 to organize such celebrations.
The Social Security Administration said Thursday the agency was not paying any licensing fees for the Freedom 250 logo and that there were no arrangements to share cardholders’ data with Freedom 250. …

250 Years Ago We Decided We Didn’t Want Any Of These

 

Don’t Tell Trump; He’ll Demand To Have His Picture On Them

Mock-up of card

      From Fox News:

Millions of babies born during America's 250th anniversary celebration will receive a first-of-its-kind commemorative Social Security card under a new Social Security Administration (SSA) initiative obtained exclusively by FOX Business.

The limited-edition cards, available only to children born in the United States between July 2 and Dec. 31, 2026, will feature the official Freedom 250 logo while functioning exactly like a standard Social Security card, according to an announcement from the Social Security Administration shared with FOX Business. …

Cardiovascular Listings Changes

      The Social Security Administration is amending its Listings of Impairments for the cardiovascular system. This will appear in the Federal Register tomorrow but you can read it today.

A Letter From The Commissioner

      The Commissioner of Social Security has sent a letter to the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee claiming that “service is better than ever” at Social Security. The letter includes selected statistics. The definitions and significance of some, if not all, of the numbers given are unclear to me.

     As Mark Twain said, “Figures don’t lie but liars often figure” or, as WC. Fields is alleged to have said, “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.”

The Problems Must Be Bad For This To Happen During This Administration

      Commissioner Bisignano and many other agency leaders have sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking for additional funding for building repairs and maintenance. 

Fifth Third For Some Recipients

 From AL.com:

In May, the Social Security Administration announced it was switching the company that administers its Direct Express cards. Comerica Bank previously handled the program. It will now be handled by Fifth Third Bank, which merged with Comerica earlier this year. 

The changeover started in June, though rollout will depend on when you started using your card.  

New Direct Express card enrollees will automatically receive their cards from Fifth Third Bank. Existing account holders will receive their new cards later this year or early next year. Beneficiaries should continue to use their existing Comerica cards until they receive the new ones. Recipients will be notified with a letter before the cards are sent. …

How Long Until Trump’s Picture Is On Social Security Cards?

 

     What does he mean, “Welcome but be good”? U.S. passports are for U.S citizens, not visitors. Citizens don’t have to meet any Trumpist notion of “being good” to re-enter the U.S. I’m glad my passport won’t need to be renewed any time soon.

Maybe A Sign

     Senators Bernie Moreno and Elizabeth Warren have penned an op ed in the New York Times recommending that the wage cap on the FICA tax that feeds into the Social Security trust funds be removed. This would prevent the trust funds from running out of money for many years into the future.

     It’s no surprise that Senator Warren would express this opinion. What’s remarkable is that Senator Moreno would feel the same. He’s a Republican from Ohio. I wouldn’t say the dam is breaking but there’s a tiny crack in it.

     The Washington Post has already run an editorial about the Moreno-Warren op ed. They’re aghast. It’s what I would expect from a newspaper owned by Jeff Bezos, one of the wealthiest people on Earth.

Caseload Analysis Report

      The Social Security Administration has posted the Caseload Analysis Report for its Office of Hearings Operations (or whatever they’re calling it these days) run on June 17. It reflects trends already apparent — falling numbers of ALJs, increased backlogs, increased use of overtime and a small use of “Agency Video Objections” which make me fear that the hearing process may be used for immigration enforcement.

Job Openings For Attorneys

      The Social Security Administration is seeking attorneys to work in Employment Law and Program Litigation positions. They don’t say how many they expect to hire but they’re only accepting the first 200 applications for each type of job. 

    There are employees needed across the agency. Why are they hiring for these positions?

Court Blocks Use Of Social Security Databases To Block Voters

      From the New York Times: 

A federal judge on Monday barred the Trump administration from letting states query a centralized national database of citizens built for checking immigration status to screen their voter rolls, finding that the repurposing of the federal data to monitor voting violated at least three laws. 

In a sharply worded ruling, Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan ordered the Homeland Security Department to stop permitting states to search the data, which also incorporates Social Security records. …

Judge Sooknanan, a Biden appointee, wrote that the executive order had resulted in a rush by agencies to “haphazardly” adopt a system that they knew was flawed and that would flag eligible voters along with those who might have registered illegally. She warned that states were already “actively” using it to potentially purge eligible voters ahead of an election. …

James Percival, the general counsel for the Homeland Security Department, responded to the ruling on social media, calling it the “latest example” of “how hard the Left will fight to stop us from solving problems they insist do not exist.” …

Keep An Eye On The Disability Trust Fund

      There’s one part of the Trustees report that hasn’t gotten much attention. While the Old-Age and Survivors Trust Fund is projected to run dry by 2032, the separate Disability Trust Fund is projected to be in balance through at least 2099.

     I don’t think it at all likely that disability benefits will be paid in full while retirement benefits are cut to 78% of current benefits. Actually, I think it’s almost inconceivable that there will be any cuts in benefits but we’ll probably have some brinksmanship as we approach the deadline. One way of putting off doing anything for a bit is to combine the two Trust funds or allow inter fund borrowing, which is what was done in the past when the Disability Trust Fund ran short. That approach would extend the deadline to act by a couple of years.

Got The Bases Covered From The Middle To The Far Right

      The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a hearing for June 24 on The Future of Social Security. There are two scheduled witnesses, Shai Akabas, who has testified at a prior Congressional hearing recommending large benefit cuts as well as tax increases, and Elizabeth Milito, who is active in the right wing Federalist Society.

Senator Hawley On Social Security “Reform”

      From an article in The Hill on the Speaker of the House making a commitment to “address” entitlements next year:

… “That sounds like wealthy people who want to have all of their tax breaks and loopholes and their carried interest deductions and so forth but they want working people who paid into all of those programs for years to take less,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said when asked about the Speaker’s statements about the need to tackle big mandatory spending programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Hawley says he gets nervous when policymakers talk about the need to “address” or “reform” Social Security.

“Addressed? Reformed? That’s usually code for ‘cut.’ I’m not in favor of that,” he said. …

Bats Out

      The Greensboro, NC field office that was closed due to a bat infestation, has reopened. Apparently, there were only two bats involved.

They’re Not Funding Better Service And Staffing But They Do Want To Hear About The Service Snd Staffing, Such As It Is

      From the report by the House Appropriations Committee on its bill to fund Social Security. The agency’s appropriation is technically referred to as Limitation on Administrative Expenses or LAE (highlighting added):

LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES 

 

FY 26 Passed Appropriation $14,841,978,000 

Budget Requests: FY 27: 14,867,978,000 

Committee Recommendation: 14,867,978,000 

Amount above FY 26: $26,000,000

Hiring and Retention.—The Committee continues to direct SSA to provide a quarterly staffing report to the Committee detailing full-time permanent staff and new hires by component and the attrition percentage by component.

 

Improved Delivery of Social Security Survivor Benefits.—The Committee urges SSA to improve the accuracy and timeliness of processing survivor benefit claims of eligible children and requests an update in the fiscal year 2028 congressional justification on steps the agency has taken to reduce errors and processing delays.

 

Report on LAE Expenditures.—The Committee continues to request that the data referenced under this heading in House Report 114–699 be included in future congressional justifications. In addition, the Committee requests the fiscal year 2028 congressional justification include a historical table of costs and fiscal year 2028 requests for personnel and benefits, by major SSA component.

 

Social Security Administration Service Delivery.—The Committee notes that millions of Americans count on consistent and reliable delivery of critical services from SSA and is concerned by any reductions in direct-service operations, including staff at field offices and processing and teleservice centers. Performance related to disability claim processing times, timely processing of retirement claims, administration of SSA’s field offices and 1–800 number, and overall customer service are all integral to the public’s interaction with SSA. As such, the Committee directs SSA to take steps to avoid field office closures, reduced office hours, and increased delays to appointments for beneficiaries seeking in-person support. 

 

The Committee also directs SSA to provide a monthly report of performance metrics that measure SSA’s progress on addressing key service delivery functions, including staff levels and appointment waiting times by field office, as well as the average time that 1– 800 number callers wait to receive a callback. Additionally, the Committee urges SSA to seek public and stakeholder input in advance of policy and operations changes when appropriate.

 

SSA Administrative or Applicant Errors.—The Committee notes that the maintenance of accurate records is critical for SSA to deliver timely and accurate benefits to those who qualify. The Committee is concerned about the prolonged timeline associated with an administrative or applicant error, which oftentimes results in delayed benefits. The Committee requests an update in the fiscal year 2028 congressional justification detailing the steps the agency is taking to improve the timeliness and efficiency of its error correction processes. The update should describe the agency’s internal review systems, how the agency informs an applicant of an error, relevant staffing and training initiatives, and what improvements the agency has taken or plans to take to avoid prolonged delays in resolving such errors.