Social Security Low Priority at Conference on Aging

According to the Senior Journal, the White House Conference on Aging has closed with a long list of resolutions adopted. Somehow, no resolution on Social Security came out in the top ten list of resolutions, although it is hard to imagine a topic that is of more concern to seniors.

California Social Security Lawyer Under Investigation in Oregon

Daniel Bernath, a lawyer who is licensed in California but who was denied bar admission in Oregon, is drawing attention from the Oregon bar for possible unauthorized practice after running newspaper ads in Oregon seeking Social Security clients by promising to cut the wait time for a hearing to a few weeks and reminding potential clients that they could switch lawyers, according to a wweek editorial.

June 18, 2006 Addendum:

Mr. Bernath has e-mailed me six months after this was first published to complain that the underlying article in wweek was unfair to him in using the work "promise" in describing what Mr. Bernath was saying to prospective clients. Here is a quote from a portion of Mr. Bernath's website:

• You have an absolute right to switch attorneys at any stage of your Social Security Disability case.
• Ask me how I can speed up your wait to a few months or weeks. Most people waiting for Social Security disability benefits have to wait a year and a half before a hearing and then months for the written decision of the Judge.
  

Obviously, Mr. Bernath does not use the word "promise" in this website, making the wweek statement inaccurate in this detail.

SSA Downsizing Leads to New Building in Birmingham

GlobeSt.com reports that work has begun on a new 587,000 square feet building which will be leased to house Social Security's Southeastern Program Service Center in Birmingham, AL. The annual lease payments will be $15.38 million. The new building is to be half the size of the current building, due to downsizing.

Bush Not Done With Social Security

According to an article in the Washington Times:

President Bush will again pursue Social Security reform next year and has been frustrated by Democrats' unwillingness to address ensuring the entitlement's long-term viability, his chief economic adviser said yesterday.

"This president is not going to give up on Social Security," said Allan Hubbard, director of the president's National Economic Council.

The response of one prominent Democrat was to quote the President: "Bring it on."

Budget Reconciliation and SSI Back Benefits

According to a report of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities the Budget Reconciliation bill recently passed by the House of Representatives provides that:

... any SSI recipient owed more than three months of back benefits would have to receive these benefits in installments, and the initial installment payment would be made smaller. The first installment would cover only three months of benefits. The second installment paid six months after the first payment would cover no more than another three months of benefits. The final payment made a full year after the individual was found eligible for SSI benefits would cover all remaining amounts owed to the recipient.

The budget reconciliation ball is now in the Senate's court.

New Rules for ALJs

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued proposed new rules for Administrative Law Judges (ALJs). Since SSA employs something like 90% of all federal ALJs, this affects SSA far more than any other agency. At first glance this proposal does not look significant. It is unclear whether this proposal puts OPM closer to creating a new register from which SSA and other agencies can select new ALJs. There has been no new register in many years due to a long running dispute over the methods for ranking ALJ candidates on the register. Agencies have had to hire off a very old register. No new applications to become ALJs have been taken in many years.

Conference on Aging Delegates Don't Like Privatization

Were you aware that the White House Conference on Aging has been going on for several days now? It comes up only once every ten years. You would think that it would be a major story, especially in the wake of President Bush's efforts to create private Social Security accounts and the controversy about the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit. The New York Times reports on efforts at the conference to express opposition to privatization and White House efforts to prevent criticism of administration policy. President Bush was the first president to to snub the White House Conference on Aging by refusing to speak at the Conference.

Undocumented Aliens Help Social Security

According to this Kansas City Infozine article Social Security has $519 billion in reported earnings that it cannot match with earnings records and believes much of this is due to undocumented aliens. In addition, there are earnings falsely attributed to existing Social Security numbers assumed by illegal aliens and other earnings attributed to valid Social Security numbers that illegal aliens were able to obtain by some artifice.