Maine Congressional Delegation Reacts To The Hearing Backlog

     Maine's Congressional delegation is reacting to Social Security's vast and growing hearing backlog.

GOP Wanted FOIA Investigation

     Congressional Republicans asked Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) to see whether political appointees at Social Security were manipulating the agency's responses to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. OIG found no evidence of this.

     I have no idea why the GOP would think there was a problem with political interference with FOIA requests at Social Security. However, there is a big FOIA problem at Social Security. FOIA requests at Social Security take forever! Months and even years can pass without a response. This isn't because of political interference. It's because of lack of resources. It's the same at other government agencies. FOIA is a mess but the problem isn't political.

NO COLA This Year?

     The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College says there probably won't be a Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) this year. If so, it would be only the third time this has happened in 40 years.

What's A Signature?

     With Adobe Acrobat it is possible to send Social Security forms to claimants via e-mail and for those claimants to sign the forms with their mouse if they're using a desktop or using their finger if they're using a smartphone or tablet. Is that sort of signature acceptable to Social Security? Is there a policy on this? If there isn't a policy, shouldn't there be? Doesn't 15 U.S.C. §7001 require Social Security to accept this form of signature?
     I'm not asking these questions because I'd like for the Social Security Administration to use this method of collecting signatures. It's fine with me if they do but that's not my point in asking. I'm asking because I'd like to use this method so that my clients can quickly sign the necessary paperwork so I can represent them.

Anyone Still Wanting To Invest The Trust Funds In The Stock Market?

     Is there anyone out there who still wants to invest the Social Security trust funds in the stock market? Anyone? 'Fess up, right wing trolls. That was a terrible idea.

Improvement In 800 Number Service

     I don't know how they've done it but Social Security is reporting dramatic improvement this year in average speed to answer times and agent busy rates for their 800 number.

Oblique Response

     The Acting Commissioner of Social Security has sent a letter to the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee responding obliquely to his request for information about whether the agency would be providing names of claimants with representative payees to other government agencies for use in determining capacity to obtain firearms. The Acting Commissioner says that Social Security isn't doing that now. She does not say whether there is a plan to do so in the future although she does say that no names would be provided merely because a claimant has a representative payee.

About Time

     Social Security has now announced that it will recognize same sex marriages even before the date of the Supreme Court decision requiring that all states recognize same sex marriages. Just yesterday there was a New York Times article saying that the Department of Justice was still considering the issue.

Same Sex Marriages Still A Problem For Social Security

     From the New York Times:

Same-sex couples may have won marriage equality, but some gay and lesbian individuals have been left wondering if their unions are still less than equal in the eyes of the government.

Kathy Murphy is one of them. She has been unable to collect survivor and death benefits from Social Security since she lost her spouse, Sara Barker, to cancer in 2012. Ms. Murphy retired from her career in publishing in 2011, earlier than she expected, to care for Ms. Barker, who died at 62.

Ms. Murphy finds herself in this predicament largely because her spouse died before the Supreme Court’s monumental ruling in June, Obergefell v. Hodges, which declared that marriage is a fundamental right. That case came after the landmark Windsor decision, in 2013, in which the court ruled that same-sex couples are entitled to federal benefits. ...

A spokesman for the Social Security Administration said it was working with the Justice Department to analyze the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell. He said the agency would provide updated instructions as new information became available.

Use Of ERE Message Function

     By chance I noticed recently that I was the only one at my firm using the message function in Social Security's Electronic Records Express (ERE) system. I've been using it to send simple messages such as as “We have submitted all the evidence that we promised on the day of the hearing and you can proceed to issue a decision” or “The post-hearing CE strongly supports our argument that Mr. _____ is limited to sedentary work.” I've only been sending these messages to one hearing office. The process has been working well for me.
     After finding out that no one else at my firm was using the message function, I asked outside my firm. I couldn't find anyone else using the message function.
     I'm curious. Are attorneys in other states using the message function? Is it working OK if you are? If you're not using it, is it because you tried and there were problems? Were you even aware of the message function?
     If this technology isn't being used widely, there's something wrong. Either the system isn't functional or people just don't know about it.