They May Seem Like Traitors But They’re Just Idiots

      From Government Executive:

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. …

Maine Enumeration At Birth Mess May Not Be So Easy To Fix

     A former federal contracting officer writes that correcting the mess created by cancelling Social Security's enumeration at birth contract with Maine (and perhaps other states) may not be so easy. As he writes, "One thing drilled into the heads of contract specialist and contracting officer by their lawyers is that there 'ain’t breathing no life into a dead contract. Dead is Dead.'” Starting all over again on a federal contract isn't something done quickly.

Dudek Takes The Fall

 

Statement from Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner: Correcting Recent Decision Impacting People of Maine 

“I recently directed Social Security employees to end two contracts which affected the good people of the state of Maine. The two contracts are Enumeration at Birth (EAB), which helps new parents quickly request a Social Security number and card for their newborn before leaving the hospital, and Electronic Death Registry (EDR) which shares recorded deaths with Social Security. 

In retrospect, I realize that ending these contracts created an undue burden on the people of Maine, which was not the intent. For that, I apologize and have directed that both contracts be immediately reinstated. EAB and EDR continue in place for every state and were not affected.

As a leader, I will admit my mistakes and make them right.”

DOGE Cancelling Enumeration At Birth Contracts Creating Additional Work For SSA

      From the Portland Press Herald

The Social Security Administration is requiring new parents in Maine to register for a Social Security number for their newborn by visiting one of the state’s eight Social Security offices and no longer allowing them to simply fill out a form at a hospital, according to an email sent by Maine officials this week.

Advocates for pediatrics in Maine immediately criticized the move as burdensome, unnecessary and unfair. …

The email notice sent on Wednesday by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to “birth certifiers” says that “effective immediately, the option for parents to participate in the enumeration at birth process will be suspended.” …

     There’s a report that these contracts have been cancelled in five other states! The reason may be that the states collect information on the race of the children but I thought all states did that.

Watch Out

 

   Despite specific language in the 14th Amendment making anyone born in the United States a U.S. citizen, the incoming Trump Administration seems determined to try to deny citizenship to those born in the U.S. to parents who were not in the U.S. legally. One crucial way of doing this would be to refuse to issue Social Security numbers to children whose parents aren't in the U.S. legally.

    I think it would be a big job to investigate the immigration/citizenship status of the parents of every baby born in the U.S. The Social Security Administration isn't ready for such a task. The public isn't ready for the delays that would be associated with this. Still, watch out. This could be coming as early as January 21, 2025.

SSNs To Disappear From Government Correspondence

      From Government Executive: 

 Office of Personnel Management issued a final rule Friday that would cull Social Security numbers any mailed document in an effort to prevent fraud.

The rule, which was published in the Federal Register, is part of the implementation of the 2017 Social Security Number Fraud Prevention Act and is designed to help protect the identifiers, which can be used in various forms of identity theft.  …

Complaints About Charges For SSN Verification

     From Federal News Network:

A federal service used by financial institutions to verify Social Security numbers, recently highlighted as a prime example for how the government could reduce improper payments and fraud, is at risk of a “death spiral” due to a steep increase in user fees, according to proponents of the system.

The Government Accountability Office is now conducting a review of the Social Security Administration’s electronic Consent Based Social Security Number Verification (eCBSV) program after lawmakers flagged concerns with cost overruns and price increases.

Meanwhile, it’s not clear whether eCBSV factors into a forthcoming SSA plan to make real-time Social Security number verification available to federal benefits programs. ...

When SSA launched eCBSV in 2020, SSA said it would charge new users a $3,693 administrative fee and returning users a $1,691 renewal fee. SSA also charged transaction fees, ranging from $400 for a user to submit up to 1,000 transactions, to $276,500 for users submitting between 200,000 and 50 million transactions.

Beginning in 2022, SSA eliminated the transaction fees, but began creating more tiers and increasing the transaction rates for high-volume users.

And as part of the most recent fee structure published in May, SSA raised the rates again for higher volume users. Those submitting between 15 million and 20 million cases will be subject to a $6.25 million annual fee; between 20 million and 25 million transactions will cost $7.25 million; and between 25 million and 75 million transactions will cost $8.25 million.

The new fee structure goes into effect in July.

The upshot, [Katie] Wechsler [of a group composed of banks, credit card companies and other large users of eCBSV] pointed out during last month’s hearing, is that a user submitting 20 million cases this year will pay 22 times what they were charged in 2021 for the same number of transactions. ...

Two Bills Advance

     Yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee marked up two minor bills that would affect the Social Security Administration in small ways. One would allow minors whose Social Security numbers have been compromised to obtain new Social Security numbers. The other would provide for a single point of contact at Social Security for those whose Social Security numbers have been compromised. I'm sure the first is debatable and the second is pointless without additional funding. 

    I wouldn't bet on either bill advancing in the Senate. If they do, you never know what might get added.

Hearing On Identity Fraud

     Last Wednesday the House Social Security Subcommittee held a hearing on the Social Security Administration's role in preventing identity fraud. Below in the witness lineup:

Mr. Sean Brune
Deputy Commissioner for Systems and Chief Information Officer, Social Security Administration
Witness Statement

Ms. Katie Wechsler
Co-Executive Director, Consumer First Coalition
Witness Statement

Ms. Margaret Hayward
Private citizen and mother of three
Witness Statement

Mr. Robert Roach
President, Alliance for Retired Americans
Witness Statement

Mr. Jeffrey Brown
Deputy Assistant Inspector General, Office of Audits, Office of the Inspector General, Social Security Administration
Witness Statement

Good Luck Getting Anyone At Social Security To Answer The Phone Much Less Help You

      Elon Musk’s Social Security number was found among Tesla papers made public by a whistleblower.

Self-Selection Of Sex

     From a press release:

Kilolo Kijakazi, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, announced that the agency now offers people the choice to self-select their sex on their Social Security number (SSN) record. The agency has implemented this policy change and the new option is now available. ...

People who update their sex marker in Social Security’s records will need to apply for a replacement SSN card. They will still need to show a current document to prove their identity, but they will no longer need to provide medical or legal documentation of their sex designation now that the policy change is in place.

The agency will accept the applicant’s self-identified sex designation of either male or female, even if it is different from the sex designation shown on identity documents, such as a passport or state-issued driver’s license or identity card. SSN cards do not include sex markers. Currently, Social Security’s record systems are unable to include a non-binary or unspecified sex designation. The agency is exploring possible future policy and systems updates to support an “X” sex designation for the SSN card application process. ...

    It doesn't matter to the Social Security Administration what a person's gender identity might be. The Social Security Act is gender neutral. Wherever there's a wife's benefit, there's a husband's benefit. Wherever there's a widow's benefit, there's a widower's benefit. There's really no need for the Social Security Administration to even record gender. It's a relic from more than 40 years ago when the Social Security Act was not gender neutral.

OIG Report Finds Problems With Assigning SSNs

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

... One of SSA’s mission-essential functions is enumeration, the process of assigning SSNs. During the enumeration process, SSA issues a Social Security card (original and any later replacement) to each individual assigned an SSN. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 (October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021), SSA processed approximately 12 million applications for original and replacement SSN cards, which is approximately 1 million fewer than it processed in FY 2020 and 5 million fewer than in FY 2019. We reviewed non-automated enumeration services (in-person and mail-in SSN applications) for original and replacement SSN cards during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Results
SSA staff did not consistently comply with established enumeration policies and procedures or temporary enumeration guidelines, and the Agency did not have adequate controls over managing evidentiary documents submitted to support SSN card applications during the COVID-19 pandemic.

✓ We reviewed a sample of 150 SSN card applications SSA processed between November 2020 and January 2021 and found 41 contained processing errors and 45 contained documentation errors. Based on our sample, we estimated SSA made 188,659 and 128,346 SSN card application processing and documentation errors, respectively.
✓ We reviewed an additional sample of 50 replacement SSN card applications SSA processed between June and September 2021 and found 15 contained processing errors and 19 contained documentation errors.
✓ SSA staff issued multiple SSNs to 27 individuals without cross-referring the SSNs. Therefore, SSA was unaware that each individual had more than one SSN.
✓ Some SSA offices did not report the loss, or suspected loss, of personally identifiable information.
✓ SSA did not have a comprehensive method to track the total number of lost original documents. ...

An Answer To A Burning Question: What Was Superman's Social Security Number?

     From Electricsistahood:

...  I got to wondering to myself, does Superman have a Social Security number? Moreover, does his alter-ego Clark Kent have a Social Security number. And does this require Kal-El to have two Social Security numbers? Beyond that, the questions become endless.

So I started doing some research into the subject. Answering the question, does Clark Kent have a Social Security number, is easy. That was answered way back in 1966 in Action Comics -- his Social Security number is 092-09-6616. Turns out that it was the same number used by a man named Giobatta Baiocchi, who died the year before. ...

    Which means, Superman got his Social Security Number in the  state of N.Y.

First Report On Field Office Reopening

    From WHEC:

For the first time in two years, people could just walk into the Social Security office downtown to try to get someone to help them.

For five months, we've documented all kinds of problems and delays with the agency's phone system and operators, but Thursday the doors opened and we found someone who really needed the access.

I stood on Main Street asking people who walked in without an appointment—how did it go? Some said it was fine. Others were still frustrated. And then I saw a little 7-year-old girl walk out with her mom and considering where they came from, the offices opened at the right time. 

Jenna is 7 years old. She and her mother Yurina and escaped from Ukraine. 

"I'm helping my friends," Viktor Kachaluba said. "They come from Ukraine, like refugee."

This mother and daughter recently came into the United States through Mexico. They came to the Social Security office when it opened today in the hopes of getting a number. ...

Within two hours of opening, about 50 people came to the office and I watched more arrive every minute. 

People waited in the lobby to get escorted to the second floor. 

"I just needed my social security card," Deshawn Terry said. "And the phone lines were tied up so I just decided to come down."

"Yes, I've called numerous times," Ann Randall said. "I've been on hold, ringing for hours." ...

    If you work in a field office, how is reopening going so far?

Back Again

      Do you remember Orly Taitz? She’s a lawyer and dentist who was promoting the goofy theory that Barack Obama couldn’t really be an American because he had a phony Social Security number. She’s back, now with a new goofy theory that a court can enjoin the Senate from proceeding with Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. 

     We’ve got to stop codling these nut job attorneys. They have no business with law licenses. There are rules in place which can remove their licenses. Enforce them.

What I'm Learning About That New 1696 -- And It's Confusing

     The form SSA-1696 is the form that those of us who represent claimants before the agency must get our clients to sign so that the agency accepts that we have the right to represent them. It's a very basic form for us. Social Security has a new version of the form but there's some serious weirdness about accessing it. Try the link that Social Security has given. If you click on that link with your desktop you get the old version of the form (unless they've already corrected the problem). Click on that link with your cell phone and you get the new version of the form. Can anyone explain that to me? I'm sure that's not what Social Security intended.

     I've used my cell phone to download a copy of the new form and I've uploaded it to a service so you can use this link to download the new form regardless of what computer you're using.

     The new form asks for the attorney or representative's ID, which is different than our Social Security Number. I don't remember ever being supplied with this ID but others tell me that they do remember receiving it. In any case, it's not been something we've used. Apparently, the ID can be found by entering ERE, the online system we use to look at the files Social Security keeps on our clients, but this is confusing. We have one "User ID" we use to sign into ERE but as best I can tell that's not the one Social Security wants. There's a second ID that can be found beside the user's name AFTER entering ERE. At least that ID has the right number of places to fit on the new 1696.

     If Social Security hasn't provided attorneys with a good link to the form or any explanation of how we're supposed to use it, I'm concerned they haven't provided their staff with any explanation either. I'm not going to start using this form until I have confidence that Social Security's staff knows what to do once they receive it.

No Child Tax Credit Without SSN

     From the Journal Record, whatever that is:

The IRS, in an informational letter, has explained why taxpayers with a religious objection to Social Security may no longer claim the child tax credit for a child without a Social Security number. 

Certain recognized religious sects are conscientiously opposed to accepting the benefits of any public or private insurance for old age, death, disability, retirement, or medical care. Members of these religious sects may be exempted from paying Social Security, Medicare and self-employment taxes. Pursuant to IRC Code Sec. 1402(g), these individuals are not required to obtain a Social Security number for themselves or their dependent children. ... 

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion unless it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person furthers a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest. 

The information letter highlights that the RFRA does not require the IRS to provide administrative relief to taxpayers who have religious or conscience-based objections to obtaining SSNs. In enacting the new CTC rules, Congress unequivocally declared that only taxpayers who provide a qualifying child’s SSN should be allowed the CTC. As a result, children without SSNs don’t qualify for the CTC.

Who's Being Unreasonable -- These Parents Or Social Security?

     From the Los Angeles Times: 

When Azul Ruelas-Brissette was born in the summer of 2018, the baby’s parents were resolute: They did not want “male” or “female” spelled out on their child’s birth certificate.

Jay Brissette and Miguel Ruelas had weighed their decision carefully. They are part of a small but burgeoning cohort of parents who are raising their children in what they call a “gender creative” or “gender expansive” way.

In the couple’s Los Angeles social network alone, several of their friends have chosen not to reveal the gender of their children until the kids are old enough to articulate their identities on their own. ...

Hence Azul’s birth certificate, which shows two dashes where gender is typically indicated. In January 2018, the state of California began issuing birth certificates that mark a gender of female, male, non-binary (those whose gender identities fall outside the categories of male or female) or nothing at all. At least 10 other states allow gender-neutral markers on identity documents.

But Brissette and Ruelas soon learned that federal agencies still adhere to traditional ways of designating gender.

Last November, the couple contacted the Social Security Administration to inquire about registering Azul for a Social Security number. They asked how they should handle the application form, which has just two options in the “sex” category: male and female.

“They went into this whole thing. That we had to pick a gender, that a baby is not a person without a gender,” Brissette said. ...

So they went to the SSA office in downtown L.A. with Azul, who wore a jean jacket and sparkly boots. They filled out the paperwork but left the “sex” category blank, and showed an employee Azul’s birth certificate.

A few minutes later, the employee handed the parents Azul’s Social Security card and a copy of the paperwork. On it, Azul was listed as male. The couple asked how, and why, the agency made that choice for them.

“They told us Azul did have a gender and closed the window,” Brissette said. ...

eCBSV Moves Forward

     From a Social Security press release:

The Social Security Administration today announced the first potential group of selected participants for its new electronic Consent Based Social Security Number (SSN) Verification (eCBSV) service. The agency will roll out the service to these users in June 2020, and plans on expanding the number of users within approximately six months of the initial rollout. ...

Social Security is creating eCBSV, a fee-based electronic SSN verification service, to allow select financial institutions and service providers, called “permitted entities” and including subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, subcontractors, or assignees of a financial institution, to verify if a person’s SSN, name, and date of birth combination matches Social Security records. Social Security needs the person’s written consent and will accept an electronic signature in order to disclose the SSN verification to the permitted entity. eCBSV returns a match verification of “Yes” or “No.” eCBSV does not verify a person’s identity. ...

His Social Security Account Was Hacked; When He Reported It He Was On Hold For An Hour

     From Robert J. Samuelson, a columnist for the Washington Post:

I got hacked. It was scary. ...

My encounter with bad stuff began a few weeks ago when I received a letter from the Social Security Administration via “snail mail.” By itself, this was neither alarming nor threatening. If you’re 65 or over (I am 73), you receive regular notices from Social Security and its first cousin, Medicare.

The letter looked authentic — and was. “Thank you for using Social Security’s online services,” it said. “On June 28, 2019, you successfully created an online account with the Social Security Administration.” This, too, seemed innocuous, except for one troubling detail: I didn’t create an online account with the Social Security. ... I decided to call the 800 number in the letter. (The 800 number seemed legitimate, because the same number appeared on many SSA websites.) 

The wait was about an hour. I was repeatedly tempted to hang up. I’m glad I didn’t. The woman who answered was courteous and helpful. Yes, my personal data had been altered so that my monthly benefit would be diverted to someone else’s account ...

The existing approach to creating reliable identification numbers (say, Social Security cards or driver’s licenses) is known as “knowledge-based verification” (KBV). To prove you are who you say you are, you’re asked questions to which, presumably, only you know the answers: for example, your birth date, home address or Social Security number.
But the KBV “model has fallen apart online,” asserts the Better Identity Coalition, a group searching for more accurate approaches. KBV is hobbled because data breaches have made a lot of “secret” information widely available to cybercriminals. ...

Against this backdrop, I surmised that the SSA must be swamped with complaints like mine: benefits that were digitally hijacked. Wrong. Their number peaked at about 12,000 in 2013. For the first half of 2018, that number was down to about 200, estimates the Office of the Inspector General. Compared with the roughly 63 million Social Security recipients, that’s virtually nothing. ...