Bingaman is on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over Social Security.Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today joined U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) for a tour of the agency’s new National Hearing Center (NHC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a result of significant funding increases for Social Security over the past two years, the agency is able to open the NHC, as well as hire approximately 80 people for positions throughout New Mexico before the fiscal year ends in October. To further improve service to New Mexicans, Commissioner Astrue and Senator Bingaman also announced that Social Security plans to open an additional field office in the Albuquerque area in 2010.
“With Senator Bingaman’s leadership, Social Security has received additional funding to hire and fill jobs in New Mexico and throughout the nation, as well as invest in technologies that improve service,” Commissioner Astrue said. “This funding is crucial to our efforts to handle the increased workloads resulting from the economic downturn as well as the aging of the baby boom generation. Our employees are making positive strides toward driving down the hearing backlog and providing prompt service to the public. With sustained support, I am confident we can successfully address these challenges.”
“Commissioner Astrue has been working very hard to address the backlog of Social Security cases, and New Mexicans are already seeing results,” Senator Bingaman said. “I commend the Commissioner for his efforts, and will work to ensure he has the funding he needs to eliminate the backlog. With the opening of the National Hearing Center in Albuquerque and the new office in Rio Rancho next year, Social Security will be able to better serve local residents and those waiting for disability decisions around the country.”
The Albuquerque NHC utilizes electronic video technology that enables Administrative Law Judges to hold disability hearings remotely throughout the country to reduce backlogs. Albuquerque initially will hear disability cases for Kansas City and Portland, Oregon -- two of the most backlogged offices in the U.S. Social Security’s first NHC, located in Falls Church, Virginia, opened in December 2007 and has contributed to improved processing times in Atlanta, Georgia, Cleveland, Ohio and Flint, Michigan.
The agency is working with the General Services Administration on a location for a new field office in the Rio Rancho/north Albuquerque area to better serve the rapidly-growing population there. The new office is scheduled to open to the public in early 2010.
Apr 15, 2009
New Mexico Gets Some Love
Expect More Stories Like This
Virginia Nesselrotte, 65, of Dunbar is upset about not getting a cost-of-living increase with her Social Security benefits this year. [They mean next year.]"We'll lose $300 a year in 10 years," said Nesselrotte, a retired Verizon worker. "That kind of loss is going to be hard on a lot of people." ...
The Congressional Budget Office said in its latest budget estimates that inflation will dip so low that Social Security recipients will not qualify for annual increases in 2010 or for two years after that. ...
Scott McClanahan, executive director of Kanawha Valley Senior Services, said he sees tough choices ahead for senior citizens.
"It's going to be needs versus wants," he said. "Is it going to be medicines or food? Now some of the seniors are already cutting their meds in half in order to keep the longevity of the drugs to meet the dynamics of those meds." ...
Furloughs In Ohio
Some employees of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission will be forced to take unpaid furloughs for no good reason ...Why would the union object to the Bureau of Disability Determination employees being exempted from the furlough? Has this been raised with the union?
The 550 employees of the Bureau of Disability Determination are paid out of federal Social Security Administration funds but work for the state. The bureau determines whether disabled Ohioans are eligible for federal Social Security benefits. ...So why is Ohio making the employees take the unpaid time off?
It's required under a union contract covering thousands of state workers, said Steve Ostrander, spokesman for the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission. The 550 Bureau of Disability Determination employees are covered by an Ohio Civil Service Employees Association contract that requires workers to take 20 unpaid days off over the next two years.
Apr 14, 2009
Not A Good Sign
Such workshops would be unnecessary if Social Security had a truly user friendly website.
Apr 13, 2009
DDS Furloughs May Extend To NY and NJ
“We pay the full freight,” Mr. Astrue said. “States do not save any money when they furlough or lay off these employees. They only delay payments to disabled citizens who rely on the monthly benefits.” ...Mr. Astrue has expressed “grave concern” over such personnel actions in letters to governors, including Jon Corzine of New Jersey and David A. Paterson of New York, both Democrats, and Mr. Schwarzenegger.
In a letter to New York employees last week, Mr. Paterson said he intended to lay off 8,700 state workers by July 1.
Peter E. Kauffmann, a spokesman for Mr. Paterson, said, “The governor is aware of the concerns raised by the Social Security Administration and will act carefully.”
Apr 12, 2009
Apr 11, 2009
Even A Nutjob Can Make A Good Point
So I went to the local Social Security office, with my original birth certificate, to prove that I am 64. Now, being Alabama, everyone was sweet and polite, including the armed guard and the bureaucrats. And there was the racial respect that characterizes the South, despite the MSM [Main Stream Media] morality tale. But what a room! There was that armed guard at the front, waiting citizens, surveillance cameras, and five thick lucite windows with chairs in front of them, like a prison visiting room. When your number was called, you talked to the clerk through a grid, and passed your documents through a slit. I thought: the state is terrified of the people.