Government Executive.com On Social Security Budget

Government Executive.com has an article up on effort by the Federal Managers Association (FMA) to get an adequate operating budget for the Social Security Administration. Here is an excerpt:

In a summary of the bill, the House Appropriations Committee said the $100 million it added to the president's proposal should improve the agency's ability to handle claims. ...

Jessica Klement, government affairs director for the managers association, disagreed that the $100 million would reduce the backlog. "It's going to slow the growth of the backlog, but it will by no means allow them to work on [it]," she said.

The funds will allow the SSA to replace only 1,000 of the 4,000 employees lost in the last three years, she said. ...

Klement said FMA would like an amendment offered on the House floor to increase SSA funding, but acknowledged that was a long shot.

SSI For Elderly And Disabled Refugees

From Social Security's Legislative Bulletin:

On July 11, 2007 the House passed H.R. 2608, the SSI Extension for Elderly and Disabled Refugees Act by voice vote. The bill was sent to the Senate where it awaits action. The House-passed bill would amend section 402 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. SSI-related provisions of H.R. 2608 would:

• Extend temporarily the 7-year eligibility period for refugees, asylees, and certain other humanitarian immigrants to 9 years for the period that begins October 1, 2008 and ends September 30, 2010;

• Exempt those refugees, asylees, and certain other humanitarian immigrants with pending naturalization applications from the time-limited eligibility period. This exemption would also be effective only during the 3-year period the provision would be effective;

• Apply retroactively to those non-citizens whose SSI benefits had previously ceased solely due to the expiration of the 7-year period as well as to eligible individuals whose 7-year period would expire before October 1, 2010;

• Provide for prospective monthly payment of additional SSI benefits over the duration of extended eligibility;

• Revert to the 7-year SSI eligibility period for refugees, asylees, and certain other humanitarian immigrants for months after September 30, 2010; and

• Be effective October 1, 2008.

Monthly Statistics Released

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

Policy Change On Name Changes

Social Security seems to be clearing the decks for an expected wave of calls and visits from people whose names and Social Security numbers do not match. Many Americans will soon be forced by new Homeland Security rules to clear these situations or lose employment. While some of these people with name match problems will be illegal immigrants, most of them are going to be simple name change situations. Here is an excerpt from a recent Emergency Message that seems to reflect a desire to get these processed as quickly as possible.

A. New Policy In name change situations when evidence of identity in the old name is required (e.g., name change occurred more than 2 years ago) and the applicant alleges not having any evidence of identity in the old name with him or her at the time the SSN application is filed, request the following documentation (1, 2) and Numident verification (3) to process the name change:

1. Name change document (e.g., marriage document) showing the old name that agrees with the name on the latest Numident record (e.g., maiden name), and

2. Evidence of identity in the new name (name to be shown on the SSN card), per criteria described in RM 00203.200E., excludes marriage document if it was submitted as the name change document in 1., above, and

3. Verification of identifying information (SSN, name(s) on latest Numident record, date of birth, place of birth, parents’ names) from the latest Numident record (this information is propagated into the SS-5 Assistant/MES application path) with the applicant and data shown on the SS-5. Under this policy, consider the identifying information to match if the following minor discrepancies exist: minor spelling errors, mother’s maiden name is incorrect or unknown, and/or place of birth provided is County of birth instead of city.

Important: If these three documentation requirements are not met, the name change request cannot be processed under this new policy. Evidence of identity in the old name would need to be submitted if required under the instructions in EM-06064 (for name changes based on marriage and divorce) or RM 00203.210 (for other types of name changes).

Mental Illness Causing Disability

Bet you would not think there would be anything relevant to this site on iAfrica.com, but you would be wrong. Here is an excerpt from an article about something that is definitely an issue for the U.S. Social Security Administration:

Mental illnesses such as depression and post traumatic stress disorder have overtaken back pain as the world's number one reason for disability claims, the Life Offices Association (LOA) said on Wednesday. ...

... mental diseases presented a challenge for life insurers because they were difficult to measure due to their "subjective nature". "

Demonstrating that circumstances in Africa are a bit different than the U.S, iAfrica has this as a a blurb for an article:

A North West owner of 10 lions that killed a boy has offered to sell two of the animals to compensate the child's family, the province said on Thursday.

If You're Reading This On A Government Computer, Pay Attention

From FedSmith:

The firing of a Navy Department civilian employee stemming from his improper use of his government computer has just passed muster with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. (Winters v. Department of the Navy, C.A.F.C. No. 2007-3106 (nonprecedential), 7/11/07)

Winters was a GS-11 Electronics Specialist at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana. Unfortunately for him, the Navy had to access his computer in order to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request. When the agency's computer people found "unusual" documents on Winters' computer, they notified his boss. It would seem Winters had more than 250 pages of unauthorized materials on a website he had set up using his government computer. This website said Winters was a Navy employee, talked about his job duties, and also talked about his unhappiness with his job and co-workers. ...

Winters was fired for poor judgment, wasting an excessive amount of government time, misuse of government equipment, and making a threat against a supervisor in a statement on his website. The Merit Systems Protection Board sided with the agency and sustained the firing. Winters took his case to court, but found no more sympathy there.

The Bureaucracy

Tom Shoop runs the excellent FedBlog. It is worth reading on any day. I think this post that he made applies very well to Social Security:

Newt Gingrich hasn't officially returned to politics yet, but that hasn't stopped him from running against the government. “We need to rip apart every single government bureaucracy,” he told Norfolk, Va.-area Republicans yesterday, according to a report in the Virginian-Pilot. “We’ve replaced government for the people with government for the government.”

It's enough to make you wonder why Gingrich didn't solve that problem when he was speaker of the House and his party controlled both houses of Congress. But actually, we know the answer to that question, don't we? First, because it's really, really hard to do. And second, because when you start pulling the lid off all of these agencies and programs, it turns out a lot of them are doing their jobs pretty well, and almost all of them have strong constituencies that even the most hardcore government-hater can't afford to alienate. That's why anti-bureaucracy talk like this (from all sides of the political spectrum, by the way) has always been more about rhetoric than reality.

Stats On Children Receiving SSI

Social Security's Office of Policy has released a compilation of statistical information on children receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Here are a few excerpts:

In December 2006, almost 1,079,000 blind and disabled children were receiving SSI payments. They made up 14.9 percent of the more than 7 million SSI recipients. The data reflect an increase of more than 42,000 child recipients since December 2005. ...

In calendar year 2006, the most recent year for which complete data are available, the Social Security Administration (SSA) received almost 460,000 SSI applications for children. This represents 17 percent of the more than 2.6 million SSI applications received during that period.

More than 170,000 children were awarded SSI payments in calendar year 2006. This was more than 20 percent of the 838,000 persons awarded SSI in that period.

Historically, the percentages of both applications and awards for children have gradually increased. Both rates rose rapidly in the early to mid-1990s, after the Sullivan v. Zebley decision. They dropped off somewhat after welfare reform legislation was enacted in 1996. The number of applications for children has continued to increase since then, but their percentage share of all applications has gradually decreased. Both the number and percentage of awards for children steadily increased for several years following welfare reform, but there was a slight decrease in the number in 2005 and 2006 and in the percentage of all awards in 2004, 2005, and 2006. ...

In addition to the almost 1,079,000 recipients who are currently considered as children for program purposes, the SSI rolls in December 2006 included almost 731,000 adult recipients who first became eligible for SSI payments before age 18. Twenty percent of these recipients first became eligible during the 1974–1980 period and thus have been receiving SSI for much of their lives.