Scammer Pleads Guilty In Houston

      From a press release:

A 37-year-old Indian citizen who was illegally residing in Houston has entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery.

Between April and October 2019, Waseem Maknojiya was involved in a telemarketing scheme via Indian call centers to extort money from victims in the United States. Maknojiya acted as a runner in these schemes, using aliases and fake identification documents to pick up more than 70 parcels containing cash the scheme’s victims had mailed.  ...

This Argument Seems Strong To Me

     From the Supreme Court amicus brief of the American Bar Association in U.S. v. Vaello-Madero, the case presenting the question of whether it is constitutional to deny SSI benefits to American citizens who reside in Puerto Rico:  

... As a threshold issue, all of the government’s justifications for the SSI law start from the premise that it has legitimate interests in treating Puerto Rico differently because of its territorial status. ...     

However, “[i]t is well settled that the Equal Protection Clause ‘protects persons, not groups.’” Engquist v. Or. Dep’t of Agric., 553 U.S. 591, 597 (2008) (citing Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, 515 U.S. 200, 227  (1995)). The “persons” whose equal-protection rights are implicated in this case are the particular Puerto Rico residents such as Mr. Vaello-Madero who would otherwise qualify for SSI, which is only a subset of Puerto Rico residents as a “group” or “jurisdiction.” The government’s justifications for the law must supply a rational basis for treating these particular individuals differently than similarly situated individuals who do qualify for SSI because they reside elsewhere. But because the government only focuses on how all Puerto Rico residents can be treated as a group, it fundamentally fails to provide a rational basis for discriminating against Mr. Vaello-Madero and similarly situated individuals who happen to reside in Puerto Rico. ...

Covid-19 Poll

 

bike trails

OIG Threatens Employee Discipline Over Productivity During Pandemic

      From Government Executive:

... The Social Security Administration’s inspector general office has in recent months conducted surveys of computer logs and telephone records of its employees, aiming to ensure its employees were engaging in work activities at the proper times. The probes have resulted in employee discipline, including firings, according to SSA IG staff.  ...

In a message to employees in July on "reentry planning" obtained by Government Executive, [Gail] Ennis [Social Security's Inspector General] announced to employees she had requested an assessment of the workforce's remote work productivity. She noted the agency found, as a general matter, the IG's office remained consistently productive and had "demonstrated an ability to produce meaningful results" in extraordinary circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. She said the "vast majority" of employees worked the hours they said they did and "met their obligations as public servants."

Ennis added, however, that not all employees performed so admirably. 

“Regretfully, some employees did not, and they will be held accountable for their conduct,” she said. ...

One employee estimated that nearly two-dozen employees are facing potential discipline. That would represent about 7% of the IG’s Office of Investigations workforce. ...

     Note that the discussion here is about Inspector General employees specifically, not Social Security employees generally.

Man Indicted For Threatening To Blow Up Social Security Offices

Social Security office in Lubbock

     From KLBK:

A man was indicted on federal charges Wednesday and accused of threatening to blow up the Social Security Administration buildings in Lubbock [TX] and Hobbs, New Mexico, according to court documents.

Michael Wayne Nietfield, was indicted on three counts of interstate threatening communications and three counts of attempting to interfere with the Social Security Administration.

According to court documents, on July 1, Nietfield threatened that he would go to his nearest SSA building – located in Lubbock – and “blow it up.” He also said he was “going to be in jail for what he is about to do.”    

The next day he threatened to bomb the SSA building in Hobbs and ordered the manager to evacuate the office, according to court documents.

That same day, Nietfield threatened the Lubbock SSA building again.

According to court documents, he said if he didn’t get a response, “you better call them and clear them [sic] offices, cause I’m blowing these sons of b****** up.”

Students Go Hungry Because Of Social Security Backlog

   From The Spectrum, a student publication at the University of Buffalo (emphasis added):

Despite leaving her dorm 30 minutes before her lecture to get breakfast at 8:30 a.m., freshman biomedical sciences major Dina Dahhan had to settle for a partly frozen Smucker’s Uncrustables sandwich from the vending machine. 

That’s because the long lines at various eateries in the Atrium would have made her late for class. 

Dahhan isn’t the only student who has been forced to make unorthodox meal choices this past week. The national labor shortage has made it difficult for Campus Dining and Shops to meet student demand, resulting in the temporary closure of Atrium eateries, Hubies and The Bowl. The long wait times and limited hours are making it difficult for students to use their meal plans — despite the price increase on all student meal plans over the summer.   ...

CDS attributes the congestion to the national labor shortage, but also to a backlog from the Social Security Administration, which processes paperwork required for international students to work in the U.S. International students make up a large part of CDS’s workforce, so once the paperwork is pushed through, CDS hopes more food services will be available.  ...

SSA No Longer Insisting On Seeing Original Identity Documents

      From Emergency Message EM-21056: 

... While mail continues to offer an additional channel for the public to communicate with us, you must discourage customers from mailing important documents that they should keep secure and maintain in their possession, such as driver’s licenses, passports, or immigration documents. If they prefer, customers may choose to mail us secondary evidence of identity and less sensitive material. ...

Vaello-Madero Scheduled For Oral Argument On November 9

      The Supreme Court has revised its November argument calendar and added U.S. v. Vaello-Madero on November 9. Vaello-Madero presents the issue of whether it is constitutional to deny SSI benefits to U.S. citizens who reside in Puerto Rico.

     By the way, many amicus briefs have been filed already in this case. Every one supports the argument that it is unconstitutional to deny SSI to Puerto Rican residents.

    Also, by the way, the Supreme Court is going back to in person oral arguments for its October term. Will Justice Thomas go back to his silent ways?

White House Draft Of CR Contains No Additional Money For SSA

      The federal fiscal year (FY) ends on September 30 each year. Each year Congress fails to complete regular appropriations bills by that deadline so it must pass continuing resolutions (CRs) that enable government agencies to  continue to spend at the rate of the prior appropriation. The CRs generally contain special provisions allowing additional spending under the CRs for urgent needs.

    The White House has released its draft CR for this year. It contains additional funding for disasters and for Afghan refugee resettlement but no additional funding for the Social Security Administration. Of course, Congress gets a say in this. There was an earlier supplemental appropriation bill. The original Senate draft of that bill included an extra $150 million for Social Security. That was removed in negotiations. Could that return in the CR? We'll see.

SSI Disappointment

      The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over SSI, has announced that on September 9 and 10 his Committee will mark up a bill to be part of the budget reconciliation bill that Democrats hope to pass this month.  The announcement includes a description of what will be in the draft bill. I see no mention of SSI. This may be amended in committee but I doubt it will happen.

     The Senate Finance Committee may have different priorities. If so, the differences will have to be worked out.

Hearing Office Average Processing Time Continues To Rise

     The report shown below was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in its newsletter, which is not available online to non-members. It contains basic operating statistics for Social Security's Office of Hearings Operations (OHO). 

     Note that the average processing time jumped from 301 days at the end of last year to 351 days as of July. I posted about this last month and received responses basically saying "What's the problem? The total number pending is down." Who outside Social Security cares what the total number pending is? What people outside the agency care about is how long it takes to get a hearing and a decision. Even though fewer appeals are being filed, it's taking longer and longer to get a hearing and a decision. That's important. There are a multitude of problems at Social Security. This is one of them. Like many of those problems, this one is going to get worse. There is a huge backlog of cases stuck at the initial and reconsideration levels. Those backlogs will eventually be worked down, leading to more appeals. Everyone expects an avalanche of disability claims once the field offices reopen.

Click on image to view full size

 

Happy Labor Day!

 

Is OASIS Still Around?

 

    Social Security used to publish an employee magazine called OASIS. Is OASIS still being published?

     Extra points if you know why it was/is named OASIS.

Note That It Was An IRS Form In 1950

 

How Are The Trust Funds Invested?

    

     Have you ever wondered about how the Social Security trust funds are invested? Probably you know they're invested in U.S. government bonds but you wonder about the mechanics. Here are all your answers in a report by the Congressional Research Service. 

     By the way, if you don't like the idea of the Trust Funds being invested in government bonds, how would you have them invested? Are you comfortable with the U.S. government owning trillions of dollars in corporate stocks and bonds? Isn't that more than a little socialistic? How would the government decide what to buy and sell? How would it vote on elections of corporate boards of directors? What happens when the markets go down in value?

"Long Covid" And Social Security

Wuhan, China

      Many wonder what effects the Covid-19 pandemic will have on Social Security's disability programs. Will there be many "long Covid" disability claims? The Lancet, one of the most important medical journals in the world, has published a study based upon Covid survivors in Wuhan, China, where Covid-19 was first detected. The survivors were followed up at six and twelve months and compared to similar individuals who had not had Covid.

     At twelve months 49% of the Covid survivors were reporting symptoms. Shortness of breath was reported in 30% at twelve months. Interestingly, 26% were reporting depression or anxiety. Covid survivors were reporting more problems with mobility as well as pain or discomfort that those who had not had Covid. Of those patients who had been working prior to Covid, 88% had returned to work twelve months out. The study concluded that the survivors had a good physical and functional recovery but their health status was still lower than that of similar individuals who had not suffered from Covid.

A Deeper Dive Into The Trustees Report

      From the Social Security Trustees Report:

... The changes in policy for the Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals program discussed in III.B, which affect the Social Security program in the first ten years primarily by increasing payroll tax income, increased the tenth year OASI trust fund ratio by 1 percentage point. Changes in demographic assumptions over the short-range period, primarily increased mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic, increased the projected tenth year trust fund ratio for OASI by 6 percentage points. .

     In case you're having trouble following the verbiage, this says that DACA is helping the Trust Funds modestly because DACA members will be paying taxes, as is, sadly, Covid-19 because of the excess deaths. Contrary to right wing fairy tales, immigration is always good for the Trust Funds. On the whole, immigrants pay taxes for many years before they draw Social Security benefits. What's hard to understand about that? The Trust funds are projected to be depleted a bit earlier despite the effects of DACA and Covid-19 because of "several changes in economic data and assumptions."

     More specifically as to mortality, the report says that:

... Preliminary data for 2020 show that while the effects of the pandemic led to significantly higher death rates for those aged 15 and older, the death rates for those under age 15 were significantly lower, though not quite to the same degree. Thus, for ages 15 and over, death rates are assumed to increase above what would have been projected in the absence of the pandemic by 16.4 percent for 2020, 15 percent for 2021, 4 percent for 2022, and 1 percent for 2023. ...

    As best I can tell the Trustees make no assumption about long Covid disability claims. I don't know how they could. It's all speculative at this point.

Trustees Report Finally Released

      From a press release:

The Social Security Board of Trustees today released its annual report on the long-term financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds. The combined asset reserves of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI and DI) Trust Funds are projected to become depleted in 2034, one year earlier than projected last year, with 78 percent of benefits payable at that time. 

The OASI Trust Fund is projected to become depleted in 2033, one year sooner than last year’s estimate, with 76 percent of benefits payable at that time. The DI Trust Fund is estimated to become depleted in 2057, eight years earlier than last year’s estimate, with 91 percent of benefits still payable. ...

ERE Workaround

     Social Security has finally issued an alert about the ERE problem that has mostly been blocking access to its online systems for attorneys and others who represent claimant. The alert includes a workaround. Scroll halfway down the page to where it says "'Click this link to go to login page." That seems to work.

Briefs Filed In Puerto Rico SSI Case

      Probably before the end of this year the Supreme Court will hold an oral argument in the case of U.S. v. Vaello-Madero, which presents the issue of whether it is constitutional to deny SSI benefits to U.S. citizens who reside in Puerto Rico. If the Supreme Court holds that it is unconstitutional it is estimated that several hundred thousand Puerto Ricans will file SSI claims. The brief on the merits on behalf of the U.S. was filed on June 7. The brief on the merits on behalf of Mr. Vaello-Madero was filed on August 30.