AP Reports On House Budget Committee Action

The Associated Press has a report up on the House Appropriations Committee action on the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, which includes Social Security's Limitation on Administrative Expenditures (LAE), the term of art for Social Security's budget, since, technically, it is not even appropriated. Note the budget increases for other agencies. Note also that the Social Security Administration is not even mentioned. Note finally the veto threat from President Bush.

Lousy Budget News

The House Appropriations Committee"Chairman's Mark" for Social Security is now available. I am not absolutely certain that this is what the full Committee will report out, but it probably is. The Chairman's mark is only $100 million above the President' recommended budget for Social Security, rather than the $400 million increase contained in the budget resolution. If this is finally adopted, I am not sure that Social Security can keep backlogs and staffing shortages from getting worse. Significant improvement cannot be expected.

Note that other agencies fared much better. The Department of Labor budget, which is similar in size to Social Security's is increased by about $900 million over the President's recommended budget. The Health and Human Services budget goes up by about $5 billion over the President's budget. The Department of Education budget goes up by about $5.5 billion.

You may recall that Michael Astrue, the Social Security Commissioner, has been lobbying only for the President's budget. Even though Astrue is supposedly independent, he has been lobbying for a lower budget that what many in Congress want to give his agency. It looks as if Astrue's lobbying has had the effect he desired.

SSAB Meeting Agenda

The Social Security Advisory Board has released the following agenda for its next meeting. Both Palmer and Saving seem quite inclined towards some massive changes in Social Security, along the lines of what President Bush was earlier proposing.

Social Security Advisory Board
Meeting Agenda
Tuesday June 12, 2007

9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. John L. Palmer and Thomas R. Saving, Public Members of the

Board of Trustees of the

Social Security And Medicare Trust Funds

Baltimore Sun On Social Security Backlogs

I have noted on occasion that even though the Social Security Administration is the largest employer in Baltimore County the local newspapers largely ignore the agency. I can now report that the Baltimore Sun has published an article on Social Security's appeal backlogs and efforts to hire more Administrative Law Judges. There is nothing in the article that would be news to anyone who reads this blog regularly.

Immigration Bill Stalled

Reuters reports that President Bush's immigration bill is stalled in the Senate. There is little chance that the bill will be revived in this Congress. The bill had the potential to impose dramatic new workloads on the Social Security Administration, for either verifying Social Security numbers or issuing biometric Social Security cards.

SSI Recipients By County

Social Security has published a report showing the number of recipients of Supplemental Security Income, by type of benefit and by county. This sounds exquisitely boring, but it is the only set of statistics that Social Security routinely publishes that shows information on benefit recipients by county. The information is useful to attorneys who represent Social Security claimants. You have to know where potential clients live if you are going to serve them.

Social Security Hiring

Currently, the Social Security Administration has 138 job openings posted. This is the most for the agency in some time. However, as high a number as this may seem, Social Security's overall employment is dropping. They are not hiring as many people as they are losing by attrition. Office of Personnel Management figures on total agency employment are only available as of December 2006. When the March 2007 figures are released, they are certain to show a dramatic drop in employment, at a time when the agency is struggling to keep up with its workload.

Another NY Newspaper On Hearing Backlogs

The Post-Standard of central New York and the Press Republican of Northeastern New York are running an article about Social Security's hearing backlogs. New York Senator Shumer is quoted as saying that Social Security needs another $1 billion to hire sufficient staff.