Frightening

The Republican leader in the House of Representatives, who may become the Speaker of the House next year, is proposing that federal spending levels be returned to what they were in fiscal year 2008. Returning Social Security's budget to its 2008 level, would be a massive cut. There would be layoffs. The agency would go into free fall with dramatic reductions in public service. It would be a nightmare.

Bed Bugs In Jamaica

From Federal News Radio:

Bed bugs have infested the Social Security Administration's regional offices in Queens, N.Y. According to a post on FedBizOpps.gov, the agency is looking for a company to provide it with extermination services, including the use of a Bed Bug Heat Treatment Oven.

An SSA executive tells Government Computer News the bed bugs are affecting several offices in the Joseph P. Addabbo Federal Building and that the problem will be addressed as quickly as possible.

The ovens would be used to clean items such as clothing, books, papers, chairs and file cabinets in the office.

This isn't the first time the bugs have been found in that particular space. In December 2009, seven large file cabinets on five different floors in the building were infested.

Increasing The Retirement Age In France

From CBS:

French strikers disrupted trains and planes, hospitals and mail delivery Tuesday amid massive street protests over plans to raise the retirement age. ...

[P]eople poured into the streets in 220 cities, setting off flares and beating drums ...

French protesters are angry about the government's plan to do away with the near-sacred promise of retirement at 60, forcing people to work until 62 because they are living longer. ...

One sign in Paris showed a raised middle finger with the message: “Greetings from people who will die on the job.”

HEART Act Regs

From today's Federal Register:

We are revising our regulations to incorporate improvements to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program made by the HEART Act. The HEART Act changes the way we treat certain cash payments to members of the uniformed services and veterans and the way we treat cash and in-kind payments to AmeriCorps volunteers. In addition, we are making a technical change to our rules to reflect the correct section of the Internal Revenue Code.

Number Of Social Security Employees Jumps

Below are the June 2010 figures for the number of employees at Social Security recently released by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), along with earlier figures for comparison purposes.

• June 2010 69,600
  
• March 2010 66,863
  
• December 2009 67,486
  
• September 2009 67,632
  
• June 2009 66,614
  
• March 2009 63,229
  
• December 2008 63,733
  
• September 2008 63,990
  
• September 2007 62,407
• September 2006 63,647
• September 2005 66,147
• September 2004 65,258
• September 2003 64,903
• September 2002 64,648
• September 2001 65,377
• September 2000 64,521
• September 1999 63,957
• September 1998 65,629

Not On My Watch

President Obama speaking in Milwaukee today:

And to those who may still run for office planning to privatize Social Security, let me be clear: as long as I'm President, I'll fight every effort to take the retirement savings of a generation of Americans and hand it over to Wall Street. Not on my watch.

Labor Day

Social Security Opens New Office In Paris

The Paris (TX) News reports that Social Security is opening a new office in their town.

SSI Report

Social Security has issued its Annual Statistical Report on the Supplemental Security Income program. Some highlights:

Size and Scope of the Supplemental Security Income Program

• About 7.7 million people received federally administered payments in December 2009.
• The average monthly payment in December 2009 was $499.
• Total payments for the year were more than $46 billion, including almost $4 billion in federally administered state supplementation.

Profile of Recipients

• The majority were female (55 percent).
• Sixteen percent were under age 18, 58 percent were aged 18 to 64, and 26 percent were aged 65 or older.
• Most (85 percent) were eligible on the basis of a disability.
• Six out of 10 recipients under age 65 were diagnosed with a mental disorder.
• More than half (57 percent) had no income other than their SSI payment.
• Thirty-four percent of SSI recipients also received Social Security benefits.
• Of the people receiving SSI benefits, about 2 percent were residing in a Title XIX institution where Medicaid was paying more than half of the cost.
• Despite their disabilities, about 340,000 recipients (5.2 percent) were working in December 2009.

Utah Law Firm Reports Threat Made By Mississippi Client

From the Oxford, Mississippi Journal:

Billy S. Dunn of Walnut faces federal accusations he threatened to assault and murder officials with the U.S. Social Security Administration.

Dunn, 32, was indicted recently after an Aug. 4 complaint from a Utah woman working as a legal assistant in a law firm, where he was a client.

During their 30-minute telephone conversation, the woman said Dunn became upset that his SSA disability claim had been denied.

She alleged that he threatened to blow up the Corinth SSA office and himself.

Dunn was arrested soon after, and is in custody of the U.S. Marshal Service until completion of a mental evaluation and report, court documents show.

If convicted on the two counts, he faces up to 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

By the way, if you work at Social Security and wonder how often Social Security claimants communicate threats against Social Security to their attorneys, the answer is only very rarely. In 31 years of practice I have had only one. She did not stay a client for long. She had never earned enough money to qualify for benefits on her own account. Her husband had too much income for her to qualify for Supplemental Security Income. There was nothing I could do for her even though she was severely delusional. I reported the threat to the hearing office. I was told that several other people who had also dealt with her in one way or another had already warned them about her.