The Accidental Social Security Story

Every year in December I see these stories. They are intended solely to be about a person having it tough in the Christmas season, but they are also about the Social Security Administration's problems. From the Miami Herald (with emphasis added):

James Johnson unbuttons a faded blue shirt to reveal an eight-inch scar that runs over a sunken sternum.

His heart is big, but it is weak and gave out four years ago. Since then, he has found his family somewhere he never thought they would be.

Thursday, sitting in a Broward County park around what amounts to their living room and kitchen -- a picnic table sheltered by a tarp -- James, his wife Margie and their son Richard peered through pictures of the house where they once lived.

''This is hell,'' James says.

But even hell is closing its doors on the family. They have lived in the park nearly six months -- the maximum stay according to Broward County regulations -- and have been unable to find a place to move. ...

James, 60, has been told by doctors he is terminally ill. He lives with his two sons and wife Margie out of a tent and camper. They say they were tricked into giving away their West Park home at 5616 SW 36th Ct. by a man who said he would help them save the house from foreclosure. ...

James said within a year he had fallen three months behind on the mortgage. Then James and his son lost their Social Security disability last October because their assets -- including the house -- exceeded the acceptable limit. It became likely his home would be foreclosed on.

Budget Riders -- None On Biggs?

Below are the only two budget riders for the Social Security Administration that I have been able to find in the omnibus appropriations bill that has passed the House of Representatives and which will soon be considered in the Senate. I have so far been unable to find a budget rider prohibiting payment of a salary to the Andrew Biggs, who received a recess appointment as Deputy Commissioner of Social Security. Biggs is an ardent advocate for gutting Social Security, by means of privatization. Earlier versions of this legislation included such a prohibition. This is a mammoth piece of legislation. I cannot exclude the possibility that a prohibition on paying Biggs is hiding somewhere in the 1,443 page document.

§526. None of the funds appropriated by this Act may be used by the Commissioner of Social Security or the Social Security Administration to pay the compensation of employees of the Social Security Administration to administer Social Security benefit payments, under any agreement between the United States and Mexico establishing totalization arrangements between the social security system established by title II of the Social Security Act and the social security system of Mexico, which would not otherwise be payable but for such agreement.

§527 None of the funds appropriated in this Act shall be expended or obligated by the Commissioner of Social Security, for purposes of administering Social Security benefit payments under title II of the Social Security Act, to process claims for credit for quarters of coverage based on work performed under a social security account number that was not the claimant’s number which is an offense prohibited under section 208 of the Social Security Act.

Letters To NY Times Editor

The New York Times has published a series of letters to the editor concerning its recent story on backlogs at the Social Security Administration.

Fee Payment Stats

The Social Security Administration has issued updated statistics on payments of fees to attorneys and others for representing Social Security claimants. These numbers are a good analogue for how quickly or slowly the agency is paying benefits to claimants after a favorable decision since the attorney or representative and the claimant are generally paid at the same time.

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-07	15,331	$55,149,991.81
Feb-07	19,301	$69,731,683.72
Mar-07	26,505	$94,396,916.02
Apr-07	26,889	$96,650,134.82
May-07	24,429	$86,625,391.60
June-07	27,716	$99,357,038.71
July-07	21,807	$78,273,082.88
Aug-07	28,607	$101,523,346.40
Sept-07	21,409	$75,663,579.78
Oct-07	21,903	$79,209,567.01
Nov-07	27,096	$97,365,979.66

Omnibus Gives SSA $150 Million Over President's Budget

I have found myself confused in the past by the appropriations process. It is good to have confirmation from a House Appropriations Committee press release that the omnibus spending bill passed by the House last night does give the Social Security Administration (SSA) $150 million over the President's recommended budget.

Bush Threatens New Veto

From The Hill:

President Bush suggested Monday that he may not sign the omnibus appropriations bill that is expected to be sent to his desk later this week and said lawmakers should consider passing a one-year continuing resolution.

Even though Congress has bowed to his spending wishes, Bush warned lawmakers that he will be “watching very carefully as the Congress works through how to spend your money coming down the stretch before Christmas. They can’t have any gimmicks — accounting gimmicks — in there.”

Budget: $150 Million More Than President's Recommendation

If I am reading it correctly, the omnibus appropriations bill likely to be passed by the Congress and signed by the President is $150 million over the President's recommendation for the Social Security Administration. Please study it yourself. It is a 364 page document. Page 361, however, is the key page for Social Security. I have reproduced that page above. Click on it to see it full size.

Appropriations Situation

Congressional leaders have come up with a mammoth omnibus appropriations bill, which would cover the Social Security Administration (SSA). I have not yet been able to find a good summary of the bill. Here is a little nugget from the New York Times, however, suggesting that the bill contains something for SSA beyond the President's recommended budget: "...Democrats touted, for instance, increases for Social Security administrative costs aimed at reducing backlogs for disability claims ..."

Editorial On Social Security Backlogs

From the San Antonio Express News:

The system that is supposed to help those least able to help themselves is failing them.

Appeals of Social Security disability claims are taking years to get resolved. ...

The problem appears to be a lack of sufficient judges to hear the appeals. ...

It's a shame that a system established to help is instead aggravating the problems.

Social Security Employees Drawing Social Security Benefits

The Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently did a study of Social Security employees drawing Social Security benefits. The vast majority of these folks were perfectly entitled to what they were drawing from Social Security. Remember that there is no retirement earnings test for those who have reached full retirement age and Social Security has a fair number of employees who are well into their 60s and beyond. But there were problems cases and OIG wants to prosecute. From the report:

Overall, SSA ensured that employees who are also entitled to OASDI or SSI are paid the appropriate benefits. However, we identified 8 employees (out of 194 who received benefits) who were overpaid $245,311 in OASDI benefits because of their earnings. By stopping these benefits, the Agency will save $124,176 over the next 12 months.

We referred these eight employees to our Office of Investigations (OI) for criminal investigation. As of November 2007, three of these eight cases were with the United States (U.S.) Attorney's Office or the District Attorney's Office for prosecution due to possible fraud. For another three cases, the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the cases and they were being handled by SSA administratively. Also, in the remaining two cases, SSA was taking administrative action.