Washington Post On Civil Penalties

Stephen Barr in his column in the Washington Post reports on the huge civil fines proposed by Social Security's Inspector General for a few Social Security employees who allegedly used misleading statements or omitted material when preparing decisions at the direction of an Administrative Law Judge.

McDermott Gets Income Security And Family Support Subcommittee Chairmanship

The Seattle Times reports that Jim McDermott of Seattle has been named chairman of the Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. The Subcommittee had been known previously as the Human Resources Subcommittee. It has jurisdiction over the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, administered by the Social Security Administration.

Mike McNulty To Head Social Security Subcommittee

The Albany Times Union reports that Representative Mike McNulty will become the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security. McNulty has strongly opposed making private accounts part of Social Security. Although I doubt that the Ways and Means Committee would have authority to do this, one McNulty idea is particularly interesting:

The new job will give McNulty an opportunity to tackle one of his pet peeves: The budget trick that allows annual surpluses in the Social Security trust fund -- overpayments from workers and their employers -- to be used for funding other government operations.

"Here in Congress, we ought to get to honest budgeting," McNulty said in an interview. "Social Security trust fund monies ought to be used for Social Security recipients, not for other purposes."

NADR Issues Newsletter

The National Association of Disability Representatives (NADR), an organization of non-attorney representatives of Social Security disability claimants, has issued its Winter 06-07 Newsletter. The Newsletter contains a good deal of news about NADR's upcoming conference in Albuquerque.

Democrat Proposes Panel On Cutting Social Security

From the Washington Post:

Leaders of the Senate Budget Committee want to assemble a bipartisan panel of lawmakers and administration officials to deal with the skyrocketing costs of Social Security and other entitlement programs, with the goal of bringing a reform proposal to a vote in Congress later this year.

Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said he and his predecessor, Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), have asked House and Senate leaders to consider appointing the panel, which would be composed of an equal number of Republican and Democratic lawmakers. They said they have also asked the White House to participate.

Conrad declined to provide many details of the panel, saying too much information could "kill this baby in the crib."

CIGNA Hires Social Service Coordinators Disability Services

CIGNA, an insurance company which writes long term disability (LTD) insurance, has issued a press release saying that it has hired Social Service Coordinators Disability Services to represent its insureds on their Social Security disability claims. Insurance companies writing LTD insurance have a huge interest in their insureds obtaining Social Security disability benefits, since the LTD benefits are offset by the Social Security disability benefits. In recent years, LTD insurers have preferred dealing with non-attorney groups for this representation. From Social Service Coordinator's website, it appears that to this point the company has been involved in helping states get people off Medicaid and on Medicare.

Split Circuits On Internal Manuals

Professor A. Benjamin Spencer of the University of Richmond Law School reports in his Split Circuits blog on a split among the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals on the issue of whether Social Security's internal policy manuals such as HALLEX and POMS are binding upon the Social Security Administration. The 9th Circuit held that these manuals have no binding effect upon the agency, while the 1st and 5th Circuits have held that Social Security must generally follow its own internal guidelines.

For Those Worried About Social Security Furloughs

Make of this what you will. It is from Gov.Exec.com:

We had an interesting lunch in our offices today with Paul Anderson and Susan Becker of the public affairs shop at the Government Accountability Office. They noted that like executive branch agencies, GAO has been working through contingency plans for what to do if Congress enacts a measure essentially freezing its funding this year. And also like other agencies, among the possibilities GAO is considering is employee furloughs. Interestingly, congressional staffers have responded to this possibility by asking GAO officials what would happen if the House and Senate prohibited them from using furloughs to cut costs.