More On Appropriations Hearing

From Congressional Quarterly (subscription required):

Astrue recommended lawmakers give him more authority to discipline judges and hold them accountable for productivity. Astrue said some “bad apples” among the judges “tend to be corrosive in the workplace.”

...under questioning from the subcommittee’s chairman, David W. Obey, D-Wis., Astrue said the agency will not be able to process a disability claim faster than nine months, on average, before 2013.

...Obey noted that Astrue had independently requested $76 million more from Congress in fiscal 2009 than President Bush requested for the agency. Astrue said the difference was due in part to differences in cost estimates by SSA and the Office of Management and Budget, and the true difference was more like $20 million, which he called “marginal.”

Astrue drew some additional heat while discussing the administrative law judges. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., charged that the “150 or so” new judges Astrue plans to hire this year would mostly just replace retired judges.

“You’re really not increasing the number of judges at all, are you?”

“Actually, we are ...” Astrue responded, then began to detail the hiring plan. McCollum cut him off.

“Do you have enough judges?” she said.

“We don’t,” he said. “We think the minimum we need on an ongoing basis — and this might be a little low — is 1,250.”

He expects to have 1,175 by the end of the year.

First Reports On Appropriations Hearing

Here is part of a report on the February 28 House Appropriations Committee from the Associated Press:

An infusion of cash from Congress and President Bush will help the Social Security Administration cut into the months long backlog for disability benefits for thousands of Americans, officials said Thursday.

However, advocates said a one-time budget increase won't be enough to solve the problem, and they urged Congress to give the agency another cash infusion to battle the long waits faced by those seeking disability benefits. ...

...advocates said the 2009 increase still isn't enough, considering the influx of baby boomer applications that Social Security is about to confront. Astrue said they expect retirement claims to rise by 40 percent and initial disability claims will go by nearly 10 percent. ...

"In order for SSA to meet its responsibilities, we estimate that the agency needs a minimum of $11 billion," said Matt Ford, co-chair of the Social Security Task Force of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities. ...

Ronald G. Bernoski, president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges, said the judges won't be able to do anything if they don't have support staff, he said. "To hire 175 new judges without hiring the necessary staff is like buying 175 new trucks but only enough fuel to operate 20 of those trucks," Bernoski said.

The Washington Post's Stephen Barr indicates that Astrue used the hearing to continue his attacks upon Administrative Law Judges:

Astrue said most ALJs do a good job, but he made it clear he has no power to discipline bad apples in their ranks. He said he is frustrated by his inability to deal with "gross misconduct" by judges, especially those accused of fraud, domestic violence and soliciting prostitution.

Disciplinary actions brought against ALJs end up before the Merit Systems Protection Board, which hears federal employee appeals, resulting in months of litigation and, in Astrue's view, a "paid vacation" for the accused. "I'm offended by that," he said.

"Prototype" and "Single Decisionmaker" Experiments To Be Reinstated?

I have heard a credible report that New Hampshire will be reinstated as a "prototype" state in the disability redesign tests and that Maine and Vermont will be reinstated as "single decisionmaker" states. This is to return these states to the status they were in before the Disability Service Improvement (DSI) plan that former Commissioner Barnhart tried to implement and that current Commissioner Astrue ended.

This does raise the issue of whether the Social Security Administration should continue the "prototype" and "single decisionmaker" experiments. It is about time to fish or cut bait.

No Webcast On House Appropriations Committee Hearing

The House Appropriations Committee website indicates that many of its hearings are available by webcast, but not all. Apparently, there is no webcast of today's hearing on Social Security's appropriation.

New Hearing On Compassionate Allowances

The Office of the Federal Register may have labeled it yesterday as a "proposed rule," but what came out today in the Federal Register is a notice of a new public hearing on "Compassionate Allowances," to be held on April 7 in Boston. Unlike last time, the public will be allowed to attend this hearing but only invited witnesses will be allowed to speak. There will be a live webcast.

Jail Time For Threat

The Boston Globe reports that a Rutland, VT man has been sentenced for telling a therapist that he was going to blow up a Social Security office.

$220 Million Contract For Paragon

From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

Tri-S Security Corp. unit Paragon Systems has won a 10-year, $220 million contract from the U.S. Social Security Administration.

Atlanta-based Tri-S (NASDAQ: TRIS) said the contract period starts April 1 and it will provide about 500 guards, supervisors and administrators to the Social Security Administration's national headquarters and its national computer center. Both are in Woodlawn, Md.

Federal Register Item Coming

This is from the Documents on Public Inspection that are to be published in the Federal Register tomorrow. The full text is not available online; just this summary.

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

PROPOSED RULES

Compassionate Allowances for Cancers; Office of the Commissioner, Hearing, E8-03720 [SSA 2007-0053]

I do not know what the part about "Office of the Commissioner, Hearing" means.

Defendants Cry Entrapment

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Federal and state prosecutors rounded up 83 people last month and charged them with ripping off the Social Security Administration by falsely claiming benefit checks were lost, getting a replacement, then cashing both.

But defendants are crying foul, saying Social Security knew fully well they had cashed both checks, but for years treated it as a debt issue rather than a crime, according to court filings. The agency required recipients to pay it back, but took no other action until they were charged, the filings say.

In a rarely used legal argument called entrapment by estoppel, defense attorneys contend the government encouraged people to break the law and then charged them.

IRS To Send Rebate Info To Social Security Recipients

Social Security benefits recipients will receive rebates from the federal government this year only if they file tax returns. Normally, most Social Security benefits recipients do not have to file tax returns.

Commerce Clearing House is reporting that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will be sending notices to recipients of Social Security benefits in late March warning of the need to file a tax return in order to receive the rebate check.