New York Times Opposes Biggs Nomination

Some excerpts from the editorial page of today's New York Times:

A day after the midterm elections, President Bush announced that he had deputized Henry Paulson Jr., the secretary of the Treasury, to work with the new Congress on reforming Social Security. ... In an interview with The Times after the announcement, he [Bush] stressed the importance of bipartisanship. “We were going to have to build a consensus, no matter who won the election,” he said.

But then Mr. Bush nominated Andrew Biggs, a zealous advocate of privatizing Social Security, to a six-year term as the next deputy commissioner of Social Security. ...

Mr. Paulson — who has a reputation for pragmatism — could indeed be the right person to take the lead on developing a new set of reforms. But with the nomination of Mr. Biggs, Mr. Bush is signaling that he doesn’t want new ideas.

Mr. Bush’s choice of Mr. Biggs is also no favor to the man he has nominated to be the next commissioner of Social Security, Michael Astrue, a businessman who was an official in the administration of President George H. W. Bush. In a public exchange of letters before the election, Mr. Astrue told Senator Harry Reid of Nevada and Senator Max Baucus of Montana that he would follow the practice of the current commissioner, Jo Anne Barnhart, who has steered clear of the privatization debate....

The Times is mistaken on this last sentence. Astrue did not promise in his letter to stay out of the privatization debate. Astrue made a vague promise to be something like Barnhart, but made no specific committment on staying out of the privatization debate.Astrue may have already made some private committment to Democrats in the Senate, but his letter said no such thing. For that matter, Barnhart herself did not stay out of the debate completely, having contributed an op ed piece to the New York Times supporting privatization and having testified before the House Social Security Subcommittee more or less in favor of privatization, although her testimony, which came at a time when it was already clear that the President's plan would fail, did not sound like a ringing endorsement.

Monthly Statistical Packages Released

Social Security's Office of Policy has issued its monthly statistical packages for Title II and Title XVI of the Social Security Act.

Baucus: "Don't Waste Our Time"

From the Helena Independent Record, in the home state of Max Baucus, the incoming chairman of the Senate Finance Committee:

The incoming chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said Thursday he wants to hold hearings on looming insolvencies in the Medicare and Social Security programs but said President Bush’s plan to partially privatize Social Security is dead.

‘‘Don’t waste our time,’’ said Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana. ‘‘It’s off the table.’’

New Regs Exempting Work Activity As Basis For Continuing Disabilty Review

The Social Security Administration has published new final rules on "Exemption of Work Activity as a Basis for a Continuing Disability Review" and another set of new final rules on issuance of work report receipts.

Annual Statistical Report On Social Security Disability Programs

A month and a half into the 2007 fiscal year, Social Security's Office of Policy has just issued its annual statistical report on the Social Security disability programs for 2005. Despite being late, the report contains a wealth of information.

Michigan State Bar Social Security Newsletter

The State Bar of Michigan Social Security Section has issued its Fall 2006 Newsletter. The Newsletter gives information on the Disability Service Improvement (DSI) plan, among other topics.

Marsha Katz Nominated To SSAB

Marsha Katz, of Montana, has been nominated by President Bush, to the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB), upon the recommendation of Senator Max Baucus, who will soon become the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Social Security. The Press Release says that this is an "appointment", but my understanding is that one has to be confirmed by the Senate to sit on the SSAB. Katz is identified by the Press Release as an advocate for the disabled. She wrote a manual on advocating for SSI and Social Security disability benefits for the disabled which was published by the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC) of Michigan. She currently works for the University of Montana Rural Institute.

SSI Coalition Newsletter -- DSI Information

The SSI Coalition has published its September-October Newsletter. Despite the name, this excellent newsletter covers all of Social Security disability benefits. Since the SSI Coalition is based in Massachusetts, the Newsletter has extensive coverage of the Disability Service Improvement (DSI) project currently underway in Social Security's Boston Region. A few highlights:

• As of October 12 there were already 15,000 DSI cases.
• As of September 29, there were only 15 Federal Reviewing Officer claims pending. That will certainly change dramatically in the near future. Indeed, it has probably already changed dramatically.
• Only 30 Federal Reviewing Officers have been hired as of last report, but that number should already be up to 70.
• Only 5 nurse case managers have been hired.
• Commissioner Barnhart believes that Denver will be the next region for DSI, but, of course, Barnhart will not be around to decide whether DSI will be expanded to any region, much less the Denver Region.