Proposed Regulation On Government Pension Offset

From today's Federal Register:

To implement section 418 of the Social Security Protection Act of 2004 (SSPA), we propose to revise our regulations to explain that a State or local government worker will be subject to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision under title II of the Social Security Act (the Act), if any part of the last 60 months of government service was not covered by Social Security. We also propose to replace the words ‘‘receiving’’ and ‘‘received’’ with the word ‘‘payable’’ when referring to the eligibility to or payout from a government pension. This wording change will make the regulatory and statutory language consistent and help clarify when the GPO is applicable. In addition, we propose to revise our regulations to reflect a separate 60- month requirement that was made applicable to Federal employees by a 1987 law.

This proposed regulation is not controversial, but the underlying statute remains controversial.

Gray Leaves After Two Weeks

An anonymous person has sent me this e-mail which appears to be genuine and which, apparently, was just sent out:

DATE: August 2, 2007
TO: Senior Staff
FROM: Michael J. Astrue /s/
Commissioner

SUBJECT: Executive Personnel Assignment - INFORMATION

I regret to announce that Dr. David Gray has resigned as Deputy Commissioner for Disability and Income Security Programs due to personal issues and he has returned to Washington University.
I have continued to be impressed by his intelligence and thoughtfulness and believe that this hard decision is best for David and his family. I wish him well and I am sorry that we will not benefit from his talents and knowledge.
During this time of transition, I have asked David Rust to serve as Acting Deputy Commissioner for Disability and Income Security Programs. Executive Secretariat matters should be referred to Gary Thorne until further notice.
I would also like to thank Manny Vaz once again for his strong leadership during his tenure as Acting Deputy Commissioner for Disability and Income Security Programs in recent months.

Astrue had just announced the hiring of David Gray on July 18!

$300 Million Contract For Nortel

From a Nortel press release:

The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) has awarded a 10-year contract, valued up to US$300 million, for the SSA's Telephone Systems Replacement Project (TSRP) to a team led by Nortel Government Solutions*, a U.S. company wholly owned by Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT].

The award calls for replacement of the SSA's existing worldwide telephone systems with IP technology to create a converged voice and data network. ...

Expected to be among the world's largest enterprise VoIP [Voice Over Internet Protocol] implementations, the network will replace existing telephone systems in nearly 1,600 SSA field offices. It will include a 55,000-agent contact center with carrier-class unified messaging and comprehensive interactive voice response (IVR) capabilities. ...

Death Of Many Joanne Gludt

From the Baltimore Sun:

Mary Joanne Gludt, former chief of the disabilities litigation branch of the Social Security Administration, died July 19 of Alzheimer's disease at Genesis Elder Care Spa Creek Center in Annapolis. The former longtime Columbia resident was 70.

WCPO On Backlogs

Television station WCPO of Cincinnati is running a story on Social Security backlogs. You can watch online or read the text.

KSL On Backlogs

Radio station KSL of Salt Lake City, UT is running a story on Social Security's backlogs. There has been an explosion of stories along these lines since the USA Today article. It is impractical and pointless to link to all of them here. The USA Today article has to be the strongest publicity yet for Social Security's backlog and budget problems.

Albany Times Union On Backlogs

From the Albany, NY Times Union:

When it comes to waiting for Social Security disability insurance benefit claims to be processed, New York state has a backlog bigger than the population of Troy.

More than 52,000 people statewide have been waiting months or years for decisions on their applications, according to two groups that researched the problem. It's the 18th worst showing among the states in disability backlogs.

Albany is in the district of Mike McNulty, the chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee.

The article also contains this, which may make a few people cringe:

"The Social Security crisis is already here today, manifesting itself first in the disability program," said Allsup, who was a claims and field representative for the agency before starting his company, which represents disability applicants. "They are a direct reflection of staffing problems that Social Security has."

The rankings were also compiled by the American Association of People with Disabilities, the nation's largest cross-disability membership organizations. Andrew J. Imparato, president and CEO of the not-for-profit, said the wait is keeping seriously disabled Americans from getting insurance they paid for.

I had earlier posted about the apparent alliance between Allsup and the American Association of People with Disabilities, which until this alliance seemed to have little interest in Social Security disability matters.

Nobody Could Have Foreseen This Problem

From an article by Eric Yoder in Government Executive published on September 1, 2001 (emphasis added):

During the next 10 years, the Social Security Administration's retirement processing workload is projected to increase by one-fifth as the oldest of the 77 million baby boomers enter their 60s. At the same time, the disability insurance workload is projected to rise by one-half as the rest of the boomers hit ages at which they are more likely to file disability claims. By 2020, the retirement workload will increase by one-half and the disability workload by three-fourths over current levels. Meanwhile, claims under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program for the poor, disabled and elderly are expected to grow by one-fifth by 2020. ...

According to "2010 Vision [a report prepared by the Social Security Administration in 2000]," SSA would need 95,000 to 100,000 work years to handle its projected 2010 workload using current methods. [Social Security's annual staffing is now about 65,000 work years] "We recognize that an infusion of this level of resources is neither likely nor the best means to achieve our vision," it says. Thus the agency plans to make more and better use of technology. ...

Says [Stanford] Ross [a former Commissioner of Social Security], "The agency, I think, is whistling a little in the dark. They're saying, 'Well, if we get this, that and the other thing, we'll do the job. We always have. We'll be OK.' I don't think you'll wind up with the resources you're going to need unless you make your case clear. The beginning of getting the resources is being candid with the Congress and OMB and the President and the public about how deep and serious your problems are.

"Clearly, the number of workers is inadequate for the workload, and, short term, there's no substitute for the number of workers. Longer term, maybe technology and different methods of doing business can substitute for bodies, but I don't think that's true in the short term," he says. "The public is going to be ill-served if these shortfalls in service delivery are not corrected, like, yesterday. It's not being well-served right now in some ways."

This puts into better focus just how irresponsible former Commissioner Barnhart was. She was entering office about the time this was published and, undoubtedly, was made aware of the 2010 Vision report. Instead of vigorously pushing for increased staffing for Social Security, she promised that her "plan" would dramatically improve service at Social Security without any increase in personnel. Indeed, she seemed to have no objection as her agency's staffing was cut.