Contradictory Poll Findings

From the Wall Street Journal:

Less than a quarter of Americans support making significant cuts to Social Security or Medicare to tackle the country's mounting deficit, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, illustrating the challenge facing lawmakers who want voter buy-in to alter entitlement programs. ...

More than 60% of poll respondents supported reducing Social Security and Medicare payments to wealthier Americans. And more than half favored bumping the retirement age to 69 by 2075.

This is despite the fact that about half of those eligible already retire at age 62. A lot of younger people badly underestimate the effects of the aging process.

Senate Appropriations Hearing Set For March 9

The Senate Appropriations Committee has scheduled a hearing for March 9 at 9:30 a.m. on funding for the Social Security Administration for this fiscal year and the next. The following witnesses are scheduled to testify:

• Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security
• W. Lee Hammond, President, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
• Marty Ford, Co-Chair, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Task Force on Social Security Acting Director, The Arc (formerly called the Association for Retarded Citizens) and United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) Disability Policy Collaboration
• Joe Dirago, President, National Council of Social Security Management Associations, Newburgh, New York

Will the House Appropriations Committee hold a hearing on Social Security appropriations for this year or the next? That would give a Republican Commissioner of Social Security the opportunity to tell House Republicans that the budgets they are proposing would wreak havoc at Social Security. That would be interesting.

Can't Wait

The Wall Street Journal is quoting Republican House Speaker John Boehner as saying that he is determined to offer a budget this Spring that will cut Social Security benefits.

Headquarters Building Evacuated

WBAL in Baltimore reports that one of Social Security's buildings at its headquarters in Woodlawn, Maryland was evacuated today for almost two hours because of a suspicious package.

Budget News

The Associated Press is saying that the White House is willing to agree to more than $6 billion in additional spending cuts over the rest of the fiscal year. The question is whether this would be a prelude to a settlement with House Republicans or whether this would only end up buying a little more time. At some point, the White House has to say it will no longer carve slices off the salami, that there must be a deal to keep the government open for the rest of the fiscal year.

The White House is not saying where this $6 billion might come from but I would be quite surprised if any of it comes from the Social Security Administration's budget. There is every sign that this White House understands the need for additional funding for Social Security.

In Memoriam: Judge Leonard Yoswein

Retired Social Security Administrative Law Judge Leonard Yoswein of New York City died on February 25, 2011.

Union Organized Protests On Budget

The labor union that represents most Social Security employees has arranged demonstrations in 100 places around the country to protest the draconian cuts in Social Security's operating budget proposed by Republicans, cuts that would lead to massive furloughs for Social Security employees. I am not going to try to track down all the news articles generated by these protests. Here are a few:

• Baltimore
• Portsmouth, NH
• Gaston County, NC
• Painesville, OH
• Plains Township, PA
• Redding, CA

Threat Of Government Shutdown Has Not Passed

I have been writing a good deal about the threat of a government shutdown. The President has signed a bill that extends the Continuing Resolution (CR) that is currently funding the Social Security Administration and other government agencies. This is good news. Without it, there would be a government shutdown beginning at 12:01 Saturday morning.

The problem is that this CR only lasts for two weeks. We now start the countdown to a new deadline of midnight on March 18. If there is no agreement by then, there will be a government shutdown.

This CR was passed because Republicans and Democrats found some budget cuts that were low hanging fruit, items they could quickly agree upon. There may be no more low hanging fruit. We are still on a collision course that may result in a government shutdown in the near future.

Commissioner's Broadcast E-Mail

A Message To All SSA And DDS Employees

So good news, at least for now.

The House and Senate have passed legislation providing for a two-week extension of the continuing resolution that includes four billion dollars of cuts, none of which reduces our budget any further.

I want to thank all of you for staying focused on your work during this difficult period. We recently had a successful launch of some important new systems improvements, average processing time for hearings dropped to exactly one year (a reduction of about six months over the past three years), the staff and contractors have started development work on the common IT system for the DDS’s and we are wrapping up the Special Disability Workload effort after a decade of fine work. Most measures of quality and responsiveness are at recent or all-time highs.

I will be testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee next week about our budget, and we will be sure to update you about that hearing and other developments in the coming weeks.

Thanks again for all you do.

Michael J. Astrue

Commissioner

Proposed Regs On Collecting Debts

From today's Federal Register:

We propose to amend our Tax Refund Offset (TRO) and Administrative Offset regulations. We are conforming our regulations to those of the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) for the following reasons: (1) Treasury removed the 10-year limitation to collect delinquent debts owed the United States by reducing eligible Federal payments, and (2) more States are participating in reciprocal agreements with Treasury to offset State payments, including tax refunds to reduce or extinguish a federally owed debt.