Social Security Subcommittee Hearing

This set of hearings is beginning to sound a bit obsessive. This is an excerpt from the press release from the House Social Security Subcommittee:

Congressman Jim McCrery (R-LA), Chairman, Subcommittee on Social Security of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold the fourth in a series of Subcommittee hearings on Social Security number (SSN) high-risk issues. The hearing will examine expanding uses of the SSN card and measures to prevent SSN card fraud. The hearing will take place on Thursday, March 16, 2006 in room B‑318 Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Fee Payments Increase

Social Security has posted the statistics for January and February on payments of fees to attorneys and others entitled to direct payment of fees for representing claimants. Fees increased by 9% from January to February of this year. Here are the numbers:

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-06	18,752	$64,848,326.02
Feb-06	20,426	$70,312.586.15

Montana Woman Charged With Social Security Fraud

The Great Falls Tribune reports that a Glendive, MT woman has pleaded not guilty to Social Security fraud. She had received over $100,000 in dependent's benefits after she lost custody of the children for whom the benefits were being paid.

Bill Thomas to Retire

Bill Thomas, the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has announced his retirement from Congress at the end of this Congressional session. Thomas had been ineligible for another term as Chairman under House Republican rules. The current chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee of Ways and Means, Jim McCrery, is the leading candidate to succeed Thomas, if Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives.

Rubin Advises Democrats To Reject Bush Social Security Commission

Robert Rubin, Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration, has advised Democrats to reject President Bush's State of the Union address proposal for a bipartisan commission to study Social Security. Rubin advises Democrats instead to push for a broader "fiscal commission" to study all aspects of the federal budget, including whether the Bush tax cuts should be continued, in addition to Social Security.

Massachusetts Man Charged With Fraud

A Boston man has been charged with using the name, Social Security number and date of birth of a New York man to obtain $22,250 of Social Security disability benefits over two years.

Budget Reconciliation Lawsuit

Jim Zeigler, the attorney in Mobile, AL who brought a declaratory judgment lawsuit to obtain a determination of whether the budget reconciliation act was properly passed by Congress, is seeking contributions for his effort. Questions have arisen because the bills passed by the two houses of Congress were not identical. One of the provisions of the bill lowers the threshold for staged payments of back SSI benefits to three months but many other interests are affected by the budget reconciliation package.

Social Security Subcommittee Hearing

The written statements submitted at yesterday's House Social Security Subcommittee hearing on assignment of Social Security numbers and payment of benefits to foreign born individuals are now available on-line. At least in the written statements, no one was calling for additional measures.