Senator Kohl Introduces Bill To Stop Illegal Garnishment

From the Small Business Times of Wisconsin:

U.S. Senators Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) have introduced the Illegal Garnishment Prevention Act, a bill that would prevent the U.S. Department of Treasury from promoting the use of direct deposit for Social Security beneficiaries until they put a stop to the illegal garnishment of government benefits from the bank accounts of private citizens.

With increasing frequency, financial institutions are garnishing or freezing funds on behalf of creditors from bank accounts into which Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Veterans benefits are electronically deposited, despite clear protections in federal law against the garnishment of such benefits, Kohl said.

Senator Clinton On Backlogs

A press release from Senator Clinton's office:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today joined Congressman Brian Higgins in calling on the Social Security Administration (SSA) to answer questions regarding excessive delays in appeal hearings that have been caused by a lack of Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) who are charged with hearing those cases. In a letter sent today to SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue, Senator Clinton expressed her concerns regarding the excessive delays that have been reported in the Buffalo Hearing Office, which affects Social Security recipients in Erie, Chautauqua, Niagara, Genesee, Ontario, Monroe, and Cattaraugus counties. She also called for an explanation of how the agency determines the allocation of ALJs throughout their offices. Congressman Higgins brought this matter to the forefront on Monday when he singled out the delays affecting the Western New York region, and called for additional ALJs to be assigned to the Buffalo Hearing Office.

“It is unacceptable that people in Western New York are forced to wait almost two years before they can expect the SSA to hear their appeals,” said Senator Clinton. “People can’t be expected to put their lives on hold indefinitely. If the SSA is aware that certain offices have a track record of experiencing excessive delays, the agency should take a thorough look at how they are allocating the judges charged with hearing those cases.”

“This is a matter of basic human dignity,” Higgins said. “No one should have their life put on hold for years to find out whether they will receive social security disability benefits, but this has become the frustrating reality for thousands of Western New Yorkers. I thank Senator Clinton for partnering with me to advocate for getting these people the service they deserve.”

Monthly SSI Stats

The Social Security Administration has released its monthly statistical package for the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

Treasury Won't Give Up On Privatization

No else one is paying attention any more, so maybe I shouldn't, but the Department of the Treasury has released its Issue Brief No. 4 promoting privatization of Social Security. The paper aspires to an above the fray tone, basically by assuming that everyone agrees that we should privatize Social Security and that the only dispute is on how to do it. That is a ridiculous assumption, of course. Here is a small excerpt:

The institutional reforms considered in this issue brief, including several variants of personal accounts, are discussed solely in terms of the contribution they make to ensuring that attempts to pre-fund Social Security actually result in an accumulation of resources to fund future benefits. Accordingly, elements of these reforms that do not directly bear on the question of pre-funding—for example, the inheritability of personal accounts—are not discussed. In addition, it should be emphasized at the outset that none of the mechanisms for pre-funding considered here involve the privatization of any function of Social Security.

Yeah, right. Personal accounts and privatization are two completely separate things. Why would anyone think they were the same thing?

Advance Notice On Cardiovascular Disorders Listings

As mentioned yesterday, the Social Security Administration has published advance notice that it is considering changes in its listings for cardiovascular impairments. The agency is not giving an idea of what it is considering, only asking what the public thinks should be in the new regulations.

Council Bluffs Man Charged With Fraud

I love the name of this newspaper. From the Daily Nonpareil of Council Bluffs, Iowa:

Council Bluffs police officers served an arrest warrant on John B. Wilcox, 57, for first-degree theft Thursday. Reports indicated a special agent with the Social Security Administration told Council Bluffs police Wilcox received $10,867.50 in Social Security aid between January and June 2007.

Reports stated the money was meant for Wilcox because of a disability, but the report alleged he continued to work.

SSA Loses Arbitration On Telework

From the Federal Times:

An arbitrator has ordered the Social Security Administration to reverse its rollback of a telework program for some employees and to bargain with the employees’ union over any changes it wants to make.

The agency must decide by April 25 whether to appeal the ruling.

The order affects about 100 senior case technicians in SSA’s Boston region who are responsible for preparing disability claims cases for review by administrative law judges. But the case is being watched by about 2,000 senior case technicians across the country, many of whom complain that they too have been provided less freedom to work at home, said Jim Marshall, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 215.

For years, senior case technicians were allowed under a collective bargaining agreement to take their paper files home and work from there at least one day a week. But two years ago, the agency’s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review began using electronic files instead of paper files. By spring 2007, employees were complaining the transition to digital files meant they were allowed to work at home only once a month or less. ...

Marshall and Andy Krall, vice president of Local 1164, said they expect SSA to appeal the decision.

Waiting In Buffalo

From WGRZ:

The Social Security Administration's Buffalo office has a lot of cases to process. And the delays in getting those cases resolved has raised a lot of questions.

According to the SSA it takes 669 days, or nearly two years, for the average Western New Yorker to have their case heard and processed. Also, each Administrative Law Judge in Buffalo has on average 895 cases pending.

"It's unacceptable," said Congressman Brian Higgins (D) (Buffalo). "People in this community are hurting. When they file a claim, they're not looking for benefits two years from now, they're looking for benefits right away."

Higgins wants to know why ten new administrative law judges have been added to New York in 2008, and none of those ten have been assigned to Buffalo. "We need more administrative law judges to get these claims processed in an expeditious way," he said.

Note that the Congressman is asking a question that has not been asked by Congressmen in the past. How does Social Security decide which hearing offices to assign new Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) to. From what I have seen, the assignment of new ALJs seems to have little to do with need. There are legitimate questions to ask.