Turnaround In Galveston

From The Daily News of Galveston County:

Eight months after leaving, the U.S. Social Security Administration will return to the island, easing fears that the services upon which many residents depend would remain on the mainland.

The administration will open its office, 4918 Seawall Blvd., at 9 a.m. Monday.

Although its island offices sustained minimal damage from Hurricane Ike, administration officials blamed the Sept. 13 storm for its decision in October to leave and lease office space at 2700 Marina Bay Drive in League City.

The return comes after much controversy about the administration’s long-term real estate strategies.

In April last year, the administration generated public outcry when it said it would make a permanent move to League City.

The decision angered island residents who worried the elderly and disabled would have trouble traveling to League City, which doesn’t have public transportation.

Although the administration secured an 18-month lease in League City, terms of the deal allowed it to terminate the agreement in six months, officials said.

Island resident Margaret Canavan collected 1,600 signatures on petitions opposing the move.

In July, administration officials agreed to halt the plans.

The administration, which complained about high rents on the island, has not abandoned its search for new office space, spokesman Wes Davis said.

Same-Sex Partners And Social Security

Because of the Defense of Marriage Act there is virtually nothing that the Social Security Administration can do to give recognition to same-sex partners for purposes of benefits payments. However, the Department of State has just given recognition to the same-sex partnerships of its employees, especially for purposes of the diplomatic service. There are vast differences between the Department of State and Social Security, but are there some things that Social Security could and should do for its employees who are in same-sex partnerships? What do you think?

Roundtable On Backlogs

From Government Executive:

The economic downturn, inadequate funding and red tape are at the core of an increasing backlog of Social Security disability cases, panelists said during a roundtable discussion in Washington on Thursday.

The government has tried for years to reduce the number of cases awaiting review from administrative law judges, but the recession is a significant setback, said Alan Cohen, senior budget adviser for the Senate Finance Committee.

"Initial claims are going to skyrocket in 2010," he said during the forum, organized by the Association of Administration Law Judges. "The tsunami hasn't hit the administrative law judges here." ...

"You just need the money to properly administer the program," said Kathryn Olson, staff director for the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security. "Too much pressure to crank out cases really does undermine the integrity of the process." ...

Some panelists said SSA's plan to reduce the backlog by 2013 was forcing judges to take on too many cases.

"I am truly stunned by the suggestion that administrative law judges should review 500 to 700 cases per year," said U.S. Magistrate Judge Jillyn Schulze, referring to an expectation set by Chief Administrative Judge Frank A. Cristaudo in a 2008 letter to administrative law judges. "That is truly unconscionable."

"The Notes Of Your Horn Are Flat"

From an e-mail from Witold Skwierczynski, the head of the labor union that represents most Social Security employees, to Social Security Regional Commissioner Bea Disman:

I found the regional memo that you issued regarding SSA’s “Going Green” initiative particularly disingenuous. ... Increased use of mass transit will result in less carbon emissions, less pollution, less ozone layer depletion and a diminished greenhouse effect. ...

The economic stimulus package that recently passed Congress provided SSA [Social Security Administration] with an additional $1 billion in administrative expenses. The FY 09 budget resulted in an $834 million increase in SSA’s administrative expenses over FY 08. The stimulus package also contained an increase to $230/month for transit subsidies for federal employees. Other agencies increased their transit subsidies for their employees as a result of the stimulus legislation. SSA’s current transit subsidy is $105/mo. in the Washington DC area and $60/mo. everywhere else.

The Union asked Commissioner Astrue to increase the transit subsidy to the amount provided in the stimulus package. Despite the large amount of additional revenue that SSA is receiving in the stimulus package, the Commissioner refused to increase the transit subsidy. AFGE requested bargaining with SSA regarding the new legislation which increased the amount that agencies could pay to employees for transit subsidies. SSA issued a letter to the Union refusing its bargaining request. ...

So you can tout your horn regarding SSA’s “Going Green” accomplishments if you wish. Unfortunately the notes of your horn are flat and are not in sync with the instrumentation of other agencies of the government. ...

Guam Wants To Remove The Cap

The Pacific Daily News reports that Guam's non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives, Madeleine Bordallo, is introducing a bill to remove the cap on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments to people living in U.S. territories such as Guam. The article says that because of the cap the average SSI payment in Guam is only about $100, rather than over $600 as it is in the U.S. proper.

I am confused. I thought that SSI was not payable at all in U.S. territories such as Guam -- and more importantly, Puerto Rico. When did this change and what is the cap?

Roundtable On Backlogs

The Association of Administrative Law Judges (AALJ) (the labor union that represents Social Security's ALJs) is holding a "roundtable" today from 9:00 a.m. to noon at the AFL-CIO Headquarters in Washington to discuss Social Security's appeals backlogs. The roundtable is scheduled to include "Federal judges, experts on Social Security and key Congressional staff."

Senator McCaskill Has Questions

Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri has a lot of questions for Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue.

Sotomayor On Social Security Disability

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who has been nominated for the Supreme Court by President Obama, is the author of two published decisions in Social Security cases.

• Kohler v. Astrue, 546 F.3d 260 (2d Cir. 2008)
• Rosa v. Callahan, 168 F.3d 72 (2d Cir. 1999)

In each cases the Appellate panel remanded the case. (Thanks to Eric Schnaufer for finding this for me. )

It should be noted that David Traver at CONNECT has found quite a number of unpublished Social Security decisions by appellate panels that included Judge Sotomayor.