AAJ Hearings To Remain A Possibility As CRA Resolution Fails

      In the twilight days of the Trump Administration, Social Security adopted new regulations allowing Administrative Appeals Judges (AAJs) to hold hearings on disability claims. Previously, only Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) were able to hold such hearings. AAJs have only handled cases pending on review at the Appeals Council. This has been concerning since AAJs, unlike ALJs, have not been thought to enjoy decisional independence.

     The Congressional Review Act (CRA) permits Congress to disapprove "midnight" regulations adopted as an Administration is leaving office. CRA resolutions may not be filibustered. A CRA resolution was introduced to disapprove the AAJs regulations. The problem with CRA resolutions is that they must be acted upon within a certain number of days. The computation of when the days start to run is a little tricky but, apparently, the time ran out yesterday but no action was taken on the CRA resolution on the AAJ regulations.

     I would be surprised to see any AAJ hearings scheduled in the near future. There's no plausible justification since there are enough ALJs to handle the current workload and Democrats control the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. Further out, who knows?

Caseloads Continue To Dwindle -- For Now

      This was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in its newsletter, which is not available online to non-members. It is basic operating statistics for Social Security's Office of Hearings Operations. Click on the image to view full size.

     By the way, obviously backlogs continue to dwindle but what happens when the Covid-19 pandemic ends? We all hope that's coming early next year as a result of a vaccine. Is there a backlog of claims that people have deferred filing because of office closures? We know that backlogs have increased at the initial and reconsideration levels. How much will receipts increase at OHO as that backlog is worked down? For that matter, will it be worked down? Will a possible change of Presidential Administrations matter? Will there be many new claims as a result of chronic health problems caused by Covid-19 itself? I don't know the answers to these questions but one way or another the circumstances we see at the moment won't last. There's a very real chance that there will be a dramatic increase in new requests for hearing next year. Work down that backlog while you can.