"A Month Of Solid Progress"

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast <Commissioner.Broadcast@ssa.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2025 8:48 AM
Subject: A Month of Solid Progress and a Look Ahead

A Message to All SSA Employees

Subject: A Month of Solid Progress and a Look Ahead

Over the past month, this agency has seen an unprecedented level of media coverage, some of it true and deserved, while some has not been factual and painted the agency in a very negative light. I know this has been stressful for you and has caused disruption in your life. Personally, I have made some mistakes, which makes me human like you. I promise you this, I will continue to make mistakes, but I will learn from them. My decisions will always be with the best intentions for this agency, the people we serve, and you.

Through it all, you have been outstanding. SSA hasn’t missed a beat. Every day, you answer the phones, assist customers with Medicare, process claims, support students and workers, print cards, maintain our IT systems, complete redeterminations, and so much more. I’m proud of you. More importantly, you should be proud of yourselves. 

Because I can rely on you, we’ve made meaningful progress this last month: 

• Enhancing Data Sharing to Prevent Improper Payments
  We’ve expanded data-sharing agreements with agencies like the IRS, HHS, CMS, HUD, and Treasury to help prevent improper payments.  GAO, which is an independent agency that works for Congress, supports these data-sharing efforts as a key step toward reducing fraud and waste (Fraud & Improper Payments | U.S. GAO). 

• Improving Telephone Services
  We’ve always known our telephone service could be better. Acknowledging a problem is the first step to solving it. We have built on the transparency former Commissioner O'Malley started, expanding telephone detailed management data and performance metrics for the National 800 Number (N8NN) on our website. In the coming weeks, the data will be available in real time for the public. We are also exploring ways to implement AI— in a safe, governed manner in accordance with OMB’s Fed RAMP guidance—to streamline and improve call resolution while also building on the successful rollout of our phone system to Georgia field offices. 

·       Ensuring Successful Processing of VSIP

We have prioritized and expedited the processing of the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP) program.  We have collected approximately 2,700 signups for employees opting for the VSIP program.  Over 2,000 employees have been deemed eligible and been provided with guidance on next steps.  Over 1,400 employees have signed agreements for their VSIP.  HR staff are filing agreements in official personnel folders and working with employees on retirement processing and other separation steps. 

• Delivering a Win for the Public with WEP/GPO
  Implementing the improvements to WEP/GPO resulting from the Social Security Fairness Act, signed just 10 weeks ago, were a significant win for the public. I’ve asked managers to recognize the team that worked on it with a COSS award and grant them four hours of administrative time off. When we succeed as a team, we reward the team. 

With that wind at our backs, I am introducing our action plan for the next 3 months.  Rather than tackling everything at once, we will focus on a few key initiatives, execute them well, and then move forward.  We will maintain transparency as we work.  You can view the action plan here.   

To guide our path forward, I have established three priorities to keep us focused on providing critical services to the public: 

1.      Improving Customer Service

I have asked our leadership team to develop plans that address our customer service deficiencies, starting with handling calls to our 800 number and field offices, adding a self-scheduling option for post-entitlement appointments, and educating the public on our programs so they can make informed decisions.  Success in these services will not only improve the customer experience, but also make the work you do easier.   

2.      Fighting Fraud and Waste

The Administration’s focus on detecting and eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse is in line with our mission to pay the right person the right amount at the right time.  I am increasing transparency into our decisions and our data.  I have directed our leadership team to present real-time data online so that the public can see how we are doing.  I am increasing our anti-fraud efforts and leading with establishing state-of-the-art methods for identity proofing, which enables the public to securely interact with us online or over the phone.  

3.      Optimizing and Empowering the Workforce

Our greatest asset remains our workforce.  Putting knowledgeable, efficient, competent professionals in the right positions is a high priority.  It is you, the public servant, who is best-positioned to identify better, more efficient, ways of doing business.  The overwhelming response on reassignment to direct service roles has reinforced my view that our employees hold a high level of commitment to executing on our mission and prefer to do so in one-on-one interactions with the customer.  Based on that response, we are now in a good position to avoid reliance on involuntary reductions in our workforce for this fiscal year.  However, we will continually assess our ability to meet our top priority to serve the public and use strategies such as reassignment to meet demand.   

You’re an essential part of this 3-month plan, and I look forward to working with you to make meaningful improvements together. 

I appreciate your dedication.  

Lee Dudek

Acting Commissioner

Only About 3,000 SSA Employees Have Accepted Buyouts

     From MSN:

The Social Security Administration’s plans to reduce its head count have resulted in more than 2,000 workers so far. 

Of the 2,674 employees who accepted the voluntary separation incentive payment — which provides workers with a one-time payment to leave government service — before the March 14 deadline, 2,477 employees are confirmed to be eligible, the Social Security Administration said.  ...

 Employees could have also participated in the Deferred Resignation Program, or DRP, which was available until Feb. 12 to any employees in “non-mission critical” positions. Those workers — 345 eligible employees accepted the offer — were placed on paid administrative leave until Sept. 30. After that, they “must leave the agency,” the SSA said on its website. ...

Workers are also moving within the agency. The SSA offered employees the opportunity to “volunteer to be reassigned from a non-mission critical position to a local field office, teleservice center, processing center, payment center, workload support unit, or hearing office,” which also had a March 14 deadline. More than 2,200 employees will be reassigned on a “flow basis” and will receive training for these position changes, the SSA said. 

    I don't want to see the agency losing any good employees but this report is much better than I feared. 

    Here's the agency's announcement on this.

Hearing Scheduled On Bisignano Nomination

      The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a hearing at 10:00 on March 25 on the nomination of Frank Bisignano to become Commissioner of Social Security.

Social Security Pays $58 Million In EAJA Fees In FY 2024

     Each year the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) compiles a report on Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) awards. EAJA shifts the costs of attorney fees for representing Social Security claimants in many cases appealed to the federal courts. The government has to bear the fees. The latest report for FY 2024 shows Social Security having the largest EAJA burden of any agency, 9,563 awards totaling more than $58 million. Just imagine what the costs would be without the Appeals Council.

    By the way, you have to wonder how much longer ACUS will be around.

“Improvise Your Way Out”

      From the New York Times:

When Eleanor H., 66, called the Social Security Administration last month seeking details about her retirement benefits, she didn’t expect to comfort the representative who answered. The woman started sobbing.

“I asked her what was wrong, and she said she and her co-workers were informed by email to accept a taxable $20,000 payout or risk termination,” said Eleanor, who lives in New Jersey (she asked to use only her first name out of privacy concerns).

The rep still answered all of Eleanor’s questions. “Through her tears she said, ‘What am I going to do?’” …

[I]n recent weeks, the Trump administration, led by Elon Musk’s crew of cost cutters at the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has taken its chain saw to the agency’s operations. …

Michael Astrue, a former agency commissioner appointed by President George W. Bush, said it appeared that Mr. Musk has imported the strategy he used when he bought Twitter, “where you go into some place established, level it and then figure you’re going to improvise your way out,” he said, speaking at a briefing on Thursday held by the National Academy of Social Insurance. “It’s extremely destructive.” … 

Jason Fichtner, who held several positions at the agency, including deputy commissioner and chief economist, put it even more bluntly at the briefing. “It’s more like a drunk operating a wrecking ball,” he said. …

A Sunday Press Release

 Sunday, March 16, 2025

Immediate Release

Mark Hinkle, Press Officer

press.office@ssa.gov

Social Security Provides Update about its Death Record

Social Security announced today that more than three million deaths are reported to the Social Security Administration each year and explains that the agency’s records are highly accurate. Of these millions of death reports received each year, less than one-third of 1 percent are erroneously reported deaths that need to be corrected.

Deaths are reported to Social Security primarily from the States, but also from other sources, including family members, funeral homes, Federal agencies, and financial institutions. In a 2008 audit report, the IG noted that “SSA receives most death reports from funeral homes or friends/relatives of the deceased. SSA considers such first party death reports to be verified and immediately posts them to the Death Master File.”

Instances when a person is erroneously reported as deceased to Social Security can be devasting to the individual, spouse, and dependent children. Benefits are stopped in the short term which can cause financial hardship until fixed and benefits restored, and the process to prove an erroneous death will always seem too long and challenging.

If a person suspects that they have been incorrectly listed as deceased on their Social Security record, they should contact their local Social Security office as soon as possible. They can locate their nearest Social Security office at www.ssa.gov/agency/contact/. They should be prepared to bring at least one piece of current (not expired) original form of identification. Social Security takes immediate action to correct its records and the agency can provide a letter that the error has been corrected that can be shared with other organizations, agencies, and employers.

     If the Trump Administration is going to pretend there are millions of dead people receiving Social Security benefits, they shouldn't complain about reports concerning the real people who aren’t receiving the benefits they’re due because of errors in the Death Master File.

Hasn't Worked Before, Won't Work Now

 

     Lawrence Glickman writes about the long, long history of calling Social Security a "Ponzi scheme." Repeating this lie endlessly for almost 90 years doesn't make it true. It just points out how pathetically ineffective the argument is. Accept reality. The right wing has no conceivable path to eliminating Social Security or even significantly changing it, apart from what it's doing, defunding its administration, and that will ultimately prove to be horrendously unpopular as I think even they know. They just feel so strongly about this that they're willing to do a suicide charge.

Might Tell You Something About The Future

     From the Urban Institute:

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