Astrue's Letter To Senators Reid and Baucus

Prior to the election, Senator Reid, who will soon become the Senate Majority Leader, and Senator Baucus, who will soon become the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to Michael Astrue, President Bush's nominee for Commissioner of Social Security, to demand answers from Astrue on his views on Bush's Social Security privatization plan. Astrue's response is now available.

November 3,2006

Dear Senators Reid and Baucus,

Thank you for your letter of October 31, 2006 and for your congratulations on my nomination as Commissioner of Social Security. I agree wholeheartedly with you that this position is one of the most important in the Federal Government, and I would be honored to serve in that role and to work with you on these important matters.

First, let me assure you that if I am confirmed, my goal as the Commissioner of Social Security will be to build consensus among Republicans and Democrats alike in addressing the many issues confronting this program. The Social Security system and the relevant challenges inherent in it are simply too important to the fabric of our nation to fall victim to partisan politics. For that reason, I was heartened to see that you and the President agree on one key aspect of Social Security--the need to shore up the system's long-term finances. I believe that the President and Congress have done a valuable service to the public by putting the issue of Social Security's impending insolvency on the nation's agenda. In fact, I have been disturbed by certain statements that I have seen by some academics and others suggesting that there is no real problem with the financing of Sodal Security and that we need do nothing now. For me it is simply not acceptable, in the face of the information we have from the annual Social Security Trustees' reports, to avoid an honest, data-driven debate about how we can best adapt the system so we can make sure that future generations receive the same type of income security that has been available to beneficiaries in the past.

Additionally, while I am certainly aware of the general details of what the President has previously put forth regarding personal accounts, as a nominee I have not met with or consulted with the technical experts at the agency and elsewhere in government about the specific details of the President's proposal, the critiques of the President's proposal, and the features of competing proposals. It would also be premature for me to seek out assistance trom Members of Congress, academic experts and interest groups until the Senate makes a decision on my qualifications, and it would be a bad start to make final conclusions on some very difficult issues until I have had an opportunity to consider those issues fairly. For that reason, I have maintained an open mind about any proposed solutions to address Social Security's impending insolvency, and the relevant criticisms of them. Finally, I would note that I do not know whether the Administration in January will be making significant changes in its Social Security proposals or not.

With regard to my role in the first two years of the term, my understanding is that the Administration is expecting from me substantial continuity with recent practice when it comes to the Commissioner's role. Moreover, I have not been involved in the preparation of the Administration's proposals for the next budget, and expect that those proposals will be submitted to Congress before I could begin work.

I do know the President will be holding me to a high standard of performance on the myriad of operational issues that confront the agency in a time of budget cutbacks and possible furloughs, and I expect that I will be significantly focused on those issues, particularly those related to the agency's expanding obligations under Medicare.

Thank you again for your letter and the opportunity to provide my views about protecting Social Security. Protecting Social Security for the long-term always requires bipartisan cooperation, and should I be confirmed, I look forward to working with both of you in that effort.

Sincerely,

Michael J. Astrue

In essence, Astrue is politely refusing to answer the Senators' questions. Despite the statements in his letter, Astrue must have had conversations with White House officials about Bush's plan to continue his push for Social Security "reform" in 2007 and there must be some understanding between Astrue and the White House over what Astrue's role is to be in this debate. President Bush's other recent nominations strongly suggest that he expects Astrue to vigorously push whatever Social Security "reform" plan the President intends to pursue over the next two years.

Deep Freeze At Social Security

Social Security, an agency with about 59,000 employees currently lists no job openings anywhere in the agency. This is a dramatic sign of the severity of Social Security's budget problems.

Who Is Andrew Biggs?

Andrew Biggs, President Bush's nominee to be Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, is pictured to the right with the microphone in his hand. He was on the stage with the President campaigning for Social Security privatization in Raleigh, NC, as reported by The Daily Dispatch of Henderson, NC.

Biggs was a Social Security employee. The Executive Intelligence Review gives a summary of Bigg's activities at Social Security:

The 37-year old Biggs, a graduate of the London School of Economics, was the Cato Institute's senior Social Security analyst. In 2001, Cato made Biggs the lead researcher for the President's official Commission [on Social Security reform]. In May 2003, Biggs was promoted to Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy at the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA), part of Cato's coup-effort to take over the whole agency. Biggs sits just below the Deputy Commissioner who runs the Office of Policy, who "is responsible for major activities in the areas of strategic policy planning, policy research, and evaluation," as well as all statistical analysis, according to the SSA.

... Last year, Biggs wrote a "policy brief" internal document that mandates that all Social Security managers are required to present the idea "that Social Security faces dire financial problems requiring immediate action," in the words of the Jan. 15, 2004 New York Times. It would require the SSA to "insert solvency messages in all Social Security publications"; that is, to say that Social Security is in crisis. It would make Social Security managers spread Wall Street-lies in every public forum, as well as at non-traditional sites like farmers' markets and "big box retail stores." ...

Biggs' activities at Social Security have drawn complaints from Democratic members of Congress, according to GovExec.com. The American Federation of Government Employees also complained, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Prior to working for Social Security, Biggs was the assistant director of the Cato Institute's Project on Social Security Privatization. He wrote many, many articles for Cato promoting Social Security privatization. He wrote for the National Review, a conservative magazine, in February 2002 and again in April 2002 in support of Social Security privatization.

Curiously, Newsmax reports that Biggs argued at one time that homosexuals ought to support Social Security privatization because the current system unfairly denies them spousal benefits.

It would be hard to imagine a more inflammatory nomination that Bush could have sent to a Senate soon to be controlled by Democrats than that of Andrew Biggs. Biggs was nominated on the same day as John Bolton, whose nomination for Ambassador to the United Nations has also been extremely controversial. Biggs' nomination is the strongest possible sign that, despite the election results and despite widespread public opposition to privatization and despite the fact that privatization has little support among Republican Congressmen and virtually none among Democratic Congressman, President Bush intends to promote Social Security privatization over the next two years. It is a stunningly grandiose move.

Biggs Nominated As Deputy Commissioner

From the White House Press Office:

The President intends to nominate Andrew G. Biggs, of New York, to be Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, for the remainder of a six year term expiring 01/19/07 and an additional six year term expiring 01/19/13. Dr. Biggs currently serves as Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy at the Social Security Administration. Prior to this, he served as a Social Security Analyst at the Cato Institute. Earlier in his career, he served as Director of Research at the Congressional Institute. Dr. Biggs received his bachelor's degree from Queens University of Belfast, his master's from Cambridge University and his PhD from the London School of Economics.

SSA Denies ALS Claim

The Carlsbad Argus reports on Robert Johnson's battle to obtain Social Security disability benefits. Johnson suffers from amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He has been denied at the initial and reconsideration levels and has now requested a hearing.

When asked about the case, the local Social Security District Office manager pushed the use of Social Security's online services.

Fraud In Oklahoma

KFDA reports that a Shawnee, Oklahoma woman pled guilty to endorsing her mother's Social Security checks for ten years after the woman died.

Investigations Of Social Security Managers

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security managers, has issued a letter to its members warning of an increasing number of investigations of Social Security management personnel. The letter does not say who is doing the investigations, but a good guess is Social Security's Inspector General. Here is an excerpt from the NCSSMA letter to its members:

During the past year the NCSSMA has become aware of a number of cases involving managers or supervisors who have been subject to "investigation" and subsequent discipline because of alleged non-criminal wrong doing. These cases involved such alleged offenses as improper personnel practices and systems sanctions violations. While the odds are that you will never be the subject of such an investigation, it is important for you to know what to do and how to conduct yourself should the occasion arise.

The first thing to know is that when such investigations materialize it appears that they come with little or no warning. In some of the cases with which we are familiar the individuals were not even aware that they were the subject of the inquiry. They were not told that their answers might lead to disciplinary action. They were merely confronted by investigators and asked to answer questions about a specific situation and, in one case, six months later served with a notice of proposed discipline

The letter goes on to give practical advice to managers who face these investigations.

Social Security Data Used In Terrorism Probes

From the Washington Post:

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Social Security Administration's vast databases of personal information have become a resource for federal investigators, who have asked the agency to check tens of thousands of records for number misuse and identity fraud -- potential precursors to terrorist activity. ...

The Social Security Administration is "the Fort Knox of identity information in the United States," said James Huse, the agency's inspector general from 1998 to 2004. "That's a pretty impressive investigative tool that no other agency possesses."

From just after Sept. 11 through 2005, Social Security officials sent prosecutors 456 referrals that were classified as terrorism-related, according to statistics compiled by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The review shows that 91 percent of those referrals led to prosecutions. ...

Still, few if any suspects in Social Security cases are ever linked publicly to alleged terrorist activity. Most cases referred to prosecutors in the months after Sept. 11 involved document fraud by Latino immigrants working at airports.