Astrue On Furloughs

From the Federal Times:

The state furloughs are “disappointingly cynical,” SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue said in an interview with Federal Times. “They understand they’re not saving any money and that it’s actually anti-stimulus because it’s taking money away from state’s citizens.” ...

Astrue said states he’s talked to clearly understand the ramifications of furloughing DDS employees, but they decided not to exempt them out of a sense of fairness to other state employees — a “triumph of spin over compassion,” Astrue said. ...

Astrue said he’s made progress convincing some states to exempt DDS employees, but it’s an issue SSA may be tackling for the rest of the year, comparing it to the arcade game Whac-a-mole.

“We think we have a contained situation and we make progress, and just when you think you’re done, two or three more pop up,” he said.

Fugitive Felon Settlement: Social Security Loses Big Time

From Emergency Message EM-09-025:

As a result of a settlement agreement in Martinez, et al. v. Astrue, which should soon be approved by the court, this Emergency Message (EM) provides new instructions ... Martinez challenged the agency’s policy and procedures in applying non payment actions to fugitive felons and non-selection of fugitive felons as representative payees. ...

Effective immediately, SSA policy is to suspend or deny Title II and Title VIII benefits or Title XVI payments, and to prohibit an individual from serving as a representative payee only if the individual’s outstanding felony warrant was issued for one of the following three offenses:

• Escape (offense code 4901),
• Flight to Avoid prosecution, confinement, etc. (offense code 4902), and
• Flight-Escape (offense code 4999). ...

Identification of individuals affected by the Martinez settlement will be done centrally and appropriate notices released.

This is a big step forward. Social Security had interpreted the fugitive felon provision in an extremely expansive way. Congress thought they were denying benefits to murderers and rapists on the lam, but many individuals were denied benefits even though they had no idea that there was an outstanding warrant for their arrest. Many of the alleged felonies were decades old and quite minor. Many, perhaps most, of those caught up in this had never been convicted. Records concerning the charges have often been unavailable. Claimants have been put in the difficult position of convincing a busy prosecutor to clear their name. The fugitive felon provisions fall into the "It sounded like a good idea at the time" category.

Pikeville Office Honored

From WYMT:

The Pikeville [KY] Social Security office received special honors in an awards ceremony.

The office was selected as the Social Security Administration's best level two office in the Atlanta region, which is one of the highest honors an office can receive.It's an indication of how well they work together. It's an indication of how much they care about people in this service area and I'm just really proud of the staff of this office,” Paul Barnes said.

The office was selected from more than 250 facilities in the Atlanta region, which includes seven other states.

McPaper Says Sky Falling

From the USA Today editorial page:

Preliminary damage estimates by the Congressional Budget Office aren't pretty. Projected Social Security surpluses over the next decade have all but disappeared. Next year's operating surplus, previously estimated at $86 billion, is now $3 billion. Ten years of cumulative surpluses, once seen at about $703 billion, are now projected at $83 billion. ...

Each year that the U.S. government fails to address its massive retirement and health care obligations raises the prospects of it defaulting on its debts, inflating its way out of them, or imposing punitive taxes to pay them off — any of which would cause greater misery than the changes needed to stabilize the system. A commitment to shore up Social Security would serve as a clarion statement that the U.S. economy is a sound long-term investment. ...

For all the talk about "trust funds," Social Security essentially operates on a cash-in, cash-out basis. And once the amount being paid out in benefits exceeds the amount coming in — now expected in 2017 — the government will have to borrow billions of dollars to cover the difference. ...

Preserving Social Security for the long term isn't that complicated. It can be done by gradually raising the retirement age for able-bodied workers, curbing growth in benefits and making high-income workers pay more payroll taxes. The longer a solution is delayed, the more painful it will become.

Just a couple of errors here. First, we do not have to start borrowing money to pay Social Security benefits once more money starts flowing out of the trust funds than comes in. The trust funds are still large and can support net outflows for decades. Second, making high income workers pay FICA, the Social Security tax, on all their wages will pretty much solve the problem all by itself without raising the retirement age or cutting back on cost of living adjustments.

Update: USA Today also published another editorial with the title "Hands Off Social Security" offering an opposing viewpoint, although it does not mention raising or eliminating the ceiling on FICA.

Backlog Growing

This is from the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) Forum. Click on the image to view it full size. Note that despite increasing productivity and considerable overtime there appears to be no sign of progress on reducing the backlogs. Depending upon how you look at it, the backlog may be growing.

Processing Time Per Hearing Office

From the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) Forum. Click on each page to see it full size.

Compare the average processing time as it has changed over time:

• January 25, 2007 -- 508 days
• May 25, 2007 -- 523 days
• July 28, 2007 -- 528 days
• August 31, 2007 -- 523 days
• November 30, 2007 -- 500 days
• February 29, 2008 -- 511 days
• May 30, 2008 -- 523 days
• June 27, 2008 -- 529 days
• July 31, 2008 -- 530 days
  
• September 3, 2008 -- 532 days
• November 5, 2008 -- 476 days
  
• December 3, 2008 -- 480 days
• March 8, 2009 -- 499 days
  

Social Security's ARRA Plans

The Social Security Administration is now releasing weekly reports on what it is doing with the extra funding provided the agency under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the President's economic recovery plan. Here are a few points from the most recent report:

• Trying to submit a plan to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by April 10;
• Plans to send out a mailer late in April to those eligible for the $250 payments under ARRA;
• Plans to schedule a call with OMB to discuss a draft disability and retirement workload plan.

Interestingly, an earlier report mentioned a plan to post job openings under ARRA competitively using the USAJobs website. If this is being done, Social Security is doing almost no hiring under ARRA. However, it is clear from the reports that it is full speed ahead on the National Computer Center.

Fee Payment Stats

The Social Security Administration has released updated statistics on payments of fees to attorneys and others for representing Social Security claimants:

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-09	28,423	$101,128,880.69
Feb-09	31,352	$112,791,207.17
Mar-09	29,199	$104,155,187.96