Reuters reports that the House of Representatives has passed the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, which includes Social Security, by a vote of 274-141. The bill has now passed in both the House and Senate and will go to the President for a certain veto. Neither the House nor the Senate was able to pass the bill by a veto-proof majority, which means that we are back at square one.
Nov 8, 2007
Overtime
I was under the impression that the Social Security Administration was not authorizing any employee overtime at the moment because the agency was operating under a continuing funding resolution rather than an appropriation. However, I am getting messages telling me that some overtime is being allowed. I hope this is true. Without overtime, Social Security would rapidly approach collapse.
Senator Bingaman And The Backlogs
From the Albuquerque Tribune:
The stories of New Mexicans waiting on their government inspired U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman to take action. ...
At the end of September, 746,744 Americans were waiting for a hearing to ask an administrative law judge to overturn their initial denial of disability checks from the Social Security Administration. The average wait at the Albuquerque field office is about the same as the national average - 17 months. ...
Bingaman, a Silver City Democrat, has heard firsthand about the problems from New Mexicans and from testimony earlier this year at a Senate Finance Committee hearing, where the National Organization of Social Security Representatives related some of the specific stories from New Mexico and other states."We heard instance after instance where individuals with severe disabilities were unable to work and were forced to declare bankruptcy," Bingaman said.
"They lost their homes, suffered deterioration in their medical conditions, and some even died while their claims lingered in Social Security administration offices." ...
That's why, when the spending bill that funds the Social Security Administration came to the floor two weeks ago, Bingaman offered an amendment to add $160 million over President Bush's request for the agency to help settle the disability appeals backlog.
The Appropriations Standoff Continues -- White House In No Mood To Compromise
Congressional Democrats have been attempting to lump together the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, which includes funding for the Social Security Administration, with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Military Construction appropriations bills in hopes of getting enough votes for a veto-proof majority for the bill in each house of Congress.
The Hill reports that this ploy did not work. Senate Republicans were unanimous in opposition, preventing the bills from being combined. The Associated Press reports that the Labor-HHS appropriations bill by itself then passed the Senate by 56-37, less than the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override the veto that President Bush has promised.
This increases the chances of a prolonged standoff over Social Security's appropriations, which would force the agency to operate under a continuing funding resolution until well into the next calendar year. That would mean virtually no hiring of Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) or anyone else and limited or no overtime for a long time to come.
Here is a discouraging quote on the situation from the Los Angeles Times:
The Hill reports that this ploy did not work. Senate Republicans were unanimous in opposition, preventing the bills from being combined. The Associated Press reports that the Labor-HHS appropriations bill by itself then passed the Senate by 56-37, less than the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override the veto that President Bush has promised.
This increases the chances of a prolonged standoff over Social Security's appropriations, which would force the agency to operate under a continuing funding resolution until well into the next calendar year. That would mean virtually no hiring of Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) or anyone else and limited or no overtime for a long time to come.
Here is a discouraging quote on the situation from the Los Angeles Times:
Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, recently invited White House budget director Jim Nussle over to the Capitol to talk about how to avert what could become the biggest budget showdown in years.
"We went out on our balcony and had a drink and talked for a while," Obey said. But the White House was in no mood to compromise, according to Obey, who said the budget director told him, "As I go around the White House, I don't find anybody in any quarters interested in any kind of a compromise at all."
Nov 7, 2007
Live Traffic Feed
If you look to the right on this page, you will see a "Live Traffic Feed." I do not know whether it is worth keeping, but it seems interesting for the moment. It shows some limited information on those recently accessing this website. It shows the reader's geographic location. It shows "arrived on Social Security News" if the person came directly to this blog. It would show the name of a particular post if the person came directly to that post. If the person came here by clicking on a link somewhere else, the referring source is shown. If the person leaves this blog by clicking on a link here, that fact is shown.
If you are receiving this by e-mail, you may need to drop by the website from time to time to see things like this.
Let me know what you think.
If you are receiving this by e-mail, you may need to drop by the website from time to time to see things like this.
Let me know what you think.
County Cannot Use Child's Social Security Money
From the Daily Comet (and no, I have no idea why a Louisiana newspaper is reporting this case from North Carolina):
RALEIGH, N.C. A county child welfare agency must use a teenager's Social Security benefits to pay the mortgage and upkeep on a home he inherited, and the agency can't use the money in its budget, the state Court of Appeals ruled in a decision released Tuesday. ...
Attorney Lewis Pitts of Legal Aid of North Carolina, which represented the teen, said the ruling means a state judge "has the power to order (the Department of Social Services) to use his money to pay his mortgage and not stick it in their pocket."
Pitts said the case was the first to go to court in the state. He also said it is common across North Carolina and in other states for Social Security benefits to be used in a similar way.
Continuing Resolution -- Until February?
From Government Executive:
Acknowledging Congress will be in session for at least two weeks next month, House and Senate leaders are preparing a continuing resolution [to fund the federal government since Congress and the President have been unable to agree upon a budget] to last through Dec. 14, although extending that by another week is not out of the question given the heavy remaining workload. ...The Social Security Administration is in a hiring freeze at the moment and is unable to authorize any overtime because it is working under a continuing funding resolution.
If Congress cannot get its work done in time for Christmas, as a fallback, federal agencies have already been instructed to plan as if Congress will eventually pass a CR running through Feb. 15, sources said. ...There has been speculation that Democrats are preparing to quietly acquiesce in large part to Bush's overall spending limits, with perhaps some flexibility for veterans' health funding, in order to complete the appropriations bills this year.
Additional domestic funds could then be attached to Bush's new war-funding request early next year, the thinking goes.
SSA Releases Annual Statistical Report
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has released its Annual Statistical Report for 2006, chock full of almost every bit of statistical information you could want about Social Security, but with little data about how SSA itself is operating.
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