The House Appropriations Committee is marking up the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act today beginning at noon. This is the bill that would give Social Security a $902 million supplemental appropriation. See the link at the Committee website for the webcast.
Jan 21, 2009
Why Would A Respectable Newspapers Publish This?
But my question presumes a fact that has not been proven. From the Kansas City Star.
Jan 20, 2009
Change We Can Believe In
First, I strongly agree with you that there is a critical need to increase funding for the SSA administrative expenses account to address the serious challenges facing the agency. Due to prolonged underfunding, SSA has reduced staffing levels even as its workload has increased. SSA agency staffing will soon reach its lowest level since 1972 even though SSA's beneficiary population has nearly doubled since that time.
An unfortunate result of underfunding is an unprecedented backlog in SSA disability claims. As of August 2008, about 767,000 people were awaiting a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge on their Social Security disability claims, compared to about 312,000 cases pending in October 2000. There has also been an increase in Field Office waiting times.
Jan 19, 2009
Time Frame To Spend That $900 Million
The Obama economic stimulus package contains a total of $900 million in supplemental appropriations for the Social Security Administration. Ordinarily, federal appropriations are for one fiscal year only. The current fiscal year ends on September 30, 2009. Social Security would have to move awfully fast to spend that much money that fast. A second look at the bill shows that while the money is appropriated for the current fiscal year (§3), agencies will have until the end of the following fiscal year, September 30, 2010, to spend it all (§1105). However, §1102 says that each agency must have a goal of spending at least 50% of the money upon activities that can be "initiated" within 120 days of enactment. No, the bill does not define "initiate."
My prediction: Lots of overtime for Social Security employees, since I expect that Commissioner Astrue will try to avoid hiring new employees. At least we will know how Social Security is spending the money since §1201 requires each agency to post on the internet its plans for spending the money.
By the way, Social Security's Office of Inspector General is also given a $2 million supplemental appropriation in the bill. Each inspector general is required to review any concerns raised by the public about how the money is spent -- and I do mean required, since the statutory language is "shall", not "may" (§1202).
My prediction: Lots of overtime for Social Security employees, since I expect that Commissioner Astrue will try to avoid hiring new employees. At least we will know how Social Security is spending the money since §1201 requires each agency to post on the internet its plans for spending the money.
By the way, Social Security's Office of Inspector General is also given a $2 million supplemental appropriation in the bill. Each inspector general is required to review any concerns raised by the public about how the money is spent -- and I do mean required, since the statutory language is "shall", not "may" (§1202).
Social Security Central Offices To Be Open On Inauguration Day
According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) almost all federal employees in the District of Columbia and most surrounding areas will have a holiday on Inauguration Day, but this does not apply to Baltimore County, Maryland, which is where Social Security's central offices are located. Good luck with the traffic!
Falls Church, which is where the Appeals Council is located, is within the area covered by the holiday.
The Baltimore City Schools will be closed on Inauguration Day, but the Baltimore County Schools will be open.
Falls Church, which is where the Appeals Council is located, is within the area covered by the holiday.
The Baltimore City Schools will be closed on Inauguration Day, but the Baltimore County Schools will be open.
Jan 18, 2009
What Bush Did To The Federal Government
The public's opinion of the federal government took a beating during the Bush Administration, according to research by the Pew Center for the People & the Press. I think a lot of this has to do with lack of adequate staffing at almost all domestic federal agencies. There just are not enough warm bodies to get the work done and the public has noticed the difficulty they have in dealing with these agencies and the poor performance they get in exchange for their tax dollars. Anyway, take a look at the graph. I think it speaks volumes.Updated Fee Payment Information
Below is a table showing the payments of fees to attorneys and others for representing Social Security claimants last year. These statistics are a useful analogue for how quickly or slowly Social Security is paying benefits to disabled claimants after a favorable decision. Notice the unevenness in the payments.
Fee Payments | ||
|---|---|---|
| Month/Year | Volume | Amount |
Jan-08 | 20,559 | $75,368,163.45 |
| Feb-08 | 26,570 | $95,228,284.32 |
Mar-08 | 23,088 | $83,166,027.02 |
Apr-08 | 27,296 | $98,616,579.78 |
May-08 | 29,305 | $104,283,373.35 |
June-08 | 25,243 | $89,786,459.83 |
July-08 | 22,238 | $77,346,266.77 |
Aug-08 | 33,834 | $120,819,791.05 |
Sept-08 | 25,239 | $89,167,725.69 |
Oct-08 | 31,296 | $111,938,127.61 |
Nov-08 | 24,502 | $86,982,432.57 |
Dec-08 | 23,919 | $86,047,403.74 |
Jan 17, 2009
Congressmen Call For Crackdown
The Oregonian newspaper reports that Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas and three other Republican members of the House Social Security Subcommittee, is calling for a crackdown on those who collect disability checks from Social Security but who are no longer disabled.
Of course, Social Security could have been doing a better job of cutting off benefits to those who were no longer disabled if Republicans had just given the agency more operating funds over the last eight years.
Of course, Social Security could have been doing a better job of cutting off benefits to those who were no longer disabled if Republicans had just given the agency more operating funds over the last eight years.
Jan 16, 2009
Astrue Press Release Thanks Obama
Commissioner Astrue did not bother to issue a press release thanking President-elect Obama for adding $900 million to the economic stimulus bill for Social Security, but he has just sent out a press release welcoming the President-elect's call for discussion on the future of Social Security. Will Astrue be pleased if the Obama plan to insure the future of Social Security is to take the cap off the F.I.C.A. tax?
A Man With A Plan: Dr. Harvey Is Ready To Replace The DOT
Social Security has appointed an Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel to consider what to do about the fact that the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) is obsolete. The DOT has been an important foundation stone for disability determination at Social Security for more than 30 years.
I can only find the name of the panel chairman, Dr. Robert J. Harvey of Virginia Tech. Dr. Harvey appears to have strongly held views. If you are familiar with the DOT issues at Social Security, take a look at these power points, apparently created by Dr. Harvey. Keep reading. They get more and more interesting. Dr. Harvey has a plan. You cannot tell exactly what the plan is from these power points but it involves something called the Common-Metric Questionnaire (CMQ).
I hope that Social Security will remember the Data Quality Act as they go ahead with this. There had better be others beyond Dr. Harvey who think that CMQ is reliable.
Update: Here is Dr. Harvey's curriculum vita. It appears that he has had no problem with the "publish or perish" part of academic life.
Further update: A 2002 study by the Disability Research Institute, paid for by the Social Security Administration, while commending the CMQ in many ways, still recommended that Social Security not adopt Dr. Harvey's CMQ.
I can only find the name of the panel chairman, Dr. Robert J. Harvey of Virginia Tech. Dr. Harvey appears to have strongly held views. If you are familiar with the DOT issues at Social Security, take a look at these power points, apparently created by Dr. Harvey. Keep reading. They get more and more interesting. Dr. Harvey has a plan. You cannot tell exactly what the plan is from these power points but it involves something called the Common-Metric Questionnaire (CMQ).
I hope that Social Security will remember the Data Quality Act as they go ahead with this. There had better be others beyond Dr. Harvey who think that CMQ is reliable.
Update: Here is Dr. Harvey's curriculum vita. It appears that he has had no problem with the "publish or perish" part of academic life.
Further update: A 2002 study by the Disability Research Institute, paid for by the Social Security Administration, while commending the CMQ in many ways, still recommended that Social Security not adopt Dr. Harvey's CMQ.
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