Press Release On Wounded Warriors

A press release from the Social Security Administration:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today highlighted the agency’s efforts to improve service and reach out to wounded veterans. “On Sunday, we honor America’s veterans whose love of country, willingness to serve and sacrifice ensures the many freedoms we enjoy today,” Commissioner Astrue said. “While we can never fully repay them for their sacrifices, we can be sure we provide them with the quality of service and the respect they so richly deserve.”

Commissioner Astrue highlighted a number of activities Social Security has undertaken in the last several months to improve service and expand outreach to wounded veterans and their families. These include:

Expedited processing of disability claims for men and women serving in the U.S. military who become disabled while on active duty. The expedited process is for military service members disabled on or after October 1, 2001, and is applicable regardless of where the disability occurs. Social Security also expedites survivors claims.

Development of an easy-to-use website - www.socialsecurity.gov/woundedwarriors - that provides information about Social Security and military service. The website also includes a link to apply for disability benefits online.

An agreement with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the VA to electronically provide Social Security with the medical records of veterans applying for disability benefits. This agreement enables us to get medical records quicker and more efficiently and helps us expedite the disability determination.

Assigning Social Security liaisons throughout the country to work closely with VA’s Transition Patient Advocates (TPAs). Social Security’s liaisons provide TPAs with Social Security information and ensure that the application for benefits is expedited.

Instructions and extensive training for our disability examiners -- the people who make the medical decisions on our disability claims -- on how to properly identify and evaluate Traumatic Brain Injury, the signature injury of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

A fact sheet that provides information about Social Security and military service and explains how to apply for Social Security benefits. The fact sheet has been distributed to all branches of the military service, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and other interested groups.

An active presence at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Bethesda Naval Medical Center, Brooke Army Medical Center, Evans Army Medical Center and numerous other treatment facilities throughout the U.S. For example, Social Security employees are onsite every week at Walter Reed, Bethesda, Brooke and other facilities to take disability applications and ensure expeditious handling of the case.

Coordinated efforts with organizations such as the Severely Injured Marines and Sailors and Wounded Warriors Project to address concerns and facilitate open communications regarding the processing of Social Security claims.

“The Social Security Administration is proud to have within its ranks many people who have honorably served -- or are presently serving -- their country in uniform,” Commissioner Astrue said. “Let me assure veterans and their families that the dedicated men and women of Social Security stand ready to help them in any way they can, and that we will continue to look for ways to improve our service to those who have given so much in defense of our freedom.”

Congressional Democrats Talking Omnibus

The Hill reports that despite the failed effort to tack together the Labor-HHS, Military Construction and VA appropriations bills into one bill, that Congressional Democrats are looking at an omnibus appropriations bill joining together most of the federal budget in one bill after the anticipated veto of the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. Social Security's administrative budget will be part of this omnibus bill.

This all sounds like an inside game of little importance to anyone other than a congressman, but the success or failure of such strategies will determine how many employees the Social Security Administration can hire between now and September 30, 2008 as well as how much overtime the agency can authorize. If you are a prospective Administrative Law Judge, this may determine whether you get a job. If you are a current Social Security employees, this is what determines how much overtime pay you will draw and how frustrating your job will be. If you are an attorney representing Social Security claimants, this is what determines whether your stream of income accelerates or slows down and how frustrating your job will be. If you are a Social Security claimant, this is what determines how quickly you get a decision or a hearing.

House Of Representatives Passes Social Security Appropriations

Reuters reports that the House of Representatives has passed the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, which includes Social Security, by a vote of 274-141. The bill has now passed in both the House and Senate and will go to the President for a certain veto. Neither the House nor the Senate was able to pass the bill by a veto-proof majority, which means that we are back at square one.

Overtime

I was under the impression that the Social Security Administration was not authorizing any employee overtime at the moment because the agency was operating under a continuing funding resolution rather than an appropriation. However, I am getting messages telling me that some overtime is being allowed. I hope this is true. Without overtime, Social Security would rapidly approach collapse.

Senator Bingaman And The Backlogs

From the Albuquerque Tribune:

The stories of New Mexicans waiting on their government inspired U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman to take action. ...

At the end of September, 746,744 Americans were waiting for a hearing to ask an administrative law judge to overturn their initial denial of disability checks from the Social Security Administration. The average wait at the Albuquerque field office is about the same as the national average - 17 months. ...

Bingaman, a Silver City Democrat, has heard firsthand about the problems from New Mexicans and from testimony earlier this year at a Senate Finance Committee hearing, where the National Organization of Social Security Representatives related some of the specific stories from New Mexico and other states.

"We heard instance after instance where individuals with severe disabilities were unable to work and were forced to declare bankruptcy," Bingaman said.

"They lost their homes, suffered deterioration in their medical conditions, and some even died while their claims lingered in Social Security administration offices." ...

That's why, when the spending bill that funds the Social Security Administration came to the floor two weeks ago, Bingaman offered an amendment to add $160 million over President Bush's request for the agency to help settle the disability appeals backlog.

The Appropriations Standoff Continues -- White House In No Mood To Compromise

Congressional Democrats have been attempting to lump together the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, which includes funding for the Social Security Administration, with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Military Construction appropriations bills in hopes of getting enough votes for a veto-proof majority for the bill in each house of Congress.

The Hill reports that this ploy did not work. Senate Republicans were unanimous in opposition, preventing the bills from being combined. The Associated Press reports that the Labor-HHS appropriations bill by itself then passed the Senate by 56-37, less than the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override the veto that President Bush has promised.

This increases the chances of a prolonged standoff over Social Security's appropriations, which would force the agency to operate under a continuing funding resolution until well into the next calendar year. That would mean virtually no hiring of Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) or anyone else and limited or no overtime for a long time to come.

Here is a discouraging quote on the situation from the Los Angeles Times:

Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, recently invited White House budget director Jim Nussle over to the Capitol to talk about how to avert what could become the biggest budget showdown in years.

"We went out on our balcony and had a drink and talked for a while," Obey said. But the White House was in no mood to compromise, according to Obey, who said the budget director told him, "As I go around the White House, I don't find anybody in any quarters interested in any kind of a compromise at all."

Live Traffic Feed

If you look to the right on this page, you will see a "Live Traffic Feed." I do not know whether it is worth keeping, but it seems interesting for the moment. It shows some limited information on those recently accessing this website. It shows the reader's geographic location. It shows "arrived on Social Security News" if the person came directly to this blog. It would show the name of a particular post if the person came directly to that post. If the person came here by clicking on a link somewhere else, the referring source is shown. If the person leaves this blog by clicking on a link here, that fact is shown.

If you are receiving this by e-mail, you may need to drop by the website from time to time to see things like this.

Let me know what you think.

County Cannot Use Child's Social Security Money

From the Daily Comet (and no, I have no idea why a Louisiana newspaper is reporting this case from North Carolina):

RALEIGH, N.C. A county child welfare agency must use a teenager's Social Security benefits to pay the mortgage and upkeep on a home he inherited, and the agency can't use the money in its budget, the state Court of Appeals ruled in a decision released Tuesday. ...

Attorney Lewis Pitts of Legal Aid of North Carolina, which represented the teen, said the ruling means a state judge "has the power to order (the Department of Social Services) to use his money to pay his mortgage and not stick it in their pocket."

Pitts said the case was the first to go to court in the state. He also said it is common across North Carolina and in other states for Social Security benefits to be used in a similar way.

Continuing Resolution -- Until February?

From Government Executive:

Acknowledging Congress will be in session for at least two weeks next month, House and Senate leaders are preparing a continuing resolution [to fund the federal government since Congress and the President have been unable to agree upon a budget] to last through Dec. 14, although extending that by another week is not out of the question given the heavy remaining workload. ...

If Congress cannot get its work done in time for Christmas, as a fallback, federal agencies have already been instructed to plan as if Congress will eventually pass a CR running through Feb. 15, sources said. ...

There has been speculation that Democrats are preparing to quietly acquiesce in large part to Bush's overall spending limits, with perhaps some flexibility for veterans' health funding, in order to complete the appropriations bills this year.

Additional domestic funds could then be attached to Bush's new war-funding request early next year, the thinking goes.

The Social Security Administration is in a hiring freeze at the moment and is unable to authorize any overtime because it is working under a continuing funding resolution.

SSA Releases Annual Statistical Report

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has released its Annual Statistical Report for 2006, chock full of almost every bit of statistical information you could want about Social Security, but with little data about how SSA itself is operating.