I Don't Endorse This

The Robing Room website allows anyone to rate a Federal District Court Judge or Magistrate Judge and to see the evaluations posted by others.

They Must Be Ergonomic!

A notice posted on FedBizOpps.Gov reveals that the Social Security Administration "is seeking quotations for a quantity of 8,800 ergonomic shaped water bottles with logo imprint."

Wouldn't It Be Nice

From the Federal Times:

Momentum has gathered behind the idea of advanced appropriations for the Veterans Affairs Department to the point that a chief supporter of says he would be stunned if anything derails what has become the top priority for veterans groups....

“It would be stunning if Congress or the administration backed away from advanced appropriations now,” [Peter] Dickinson [a lobbyist] said....

The bill passed by the committee, S 423, is called the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act. It authorizes two years of funding for veterans programs instead of the traditional one year, beginning in fiscal 2011. The second year would be advanced funding for medical programs, including health care services, support and facility costs. Advanced funding would be based on projections of costs, including patient load and funding to cover increased medical costs.

The comptroller general, who is the head of the Government Accountability Office, would be responsible for overseeing both how the estimates are made and how the money is spent, a safeguard against low-balling the budget. The report on the adequacy and accuracy of the projects would be made public, allowing for debate over whether proposed funding is sufficient. ...

Two year funding for Social Security would be awfully nice, and so would more or less independent budget advice to help avoid low-ball budget requests. We have certainly seen low-ball budget requests at Social Security.

How Naive

David Wessel writing in today's Wall Street Journal:

For lots of workers, particularly those over 40, the alternative to looking for work is applying for Social Security disability benefits -- and dropping out of the labor force forever

Of course, many of those collecting disability truly can't work. But for workers with minor disabilities who could and, in many cases, would rather work, the Social Security benefits become the only way to pay the rent. Applications for Social Security disability in April were 20% higher than a year earlier. The application process can be arduous, often taking two years. Even among those whose applications are ultimately rejected, 60% never go back to work, says David Autor, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist who has studied disability trends. ...

One approach is to tweak the disability benefit to encourage recipients, more than current rules do, to think of the benefit as a temporary, rather than an all-or-nothing, permanent condition. At a recent town-hall meeting, Mr. Obama was asked about lifting limits on the wages a person on disability can earn. The president's answer suggested he'd been briefed recently: "Social Security disability has gone up significantly during this recession. In principle...I would like to raise the income limits to encourage people to become more self-sufficient. In practice, it costs money on the front end, even though long term it may save money." But he made no promises: "What I'd like to do is examine this in the broader context of Social Security reform and Medicare/Medicaid reform," he said.

"Many" of those on Social Security disability benefits can't work? People with "minor" disabilities on Social Security disability benefits? The Wall Street Journal has not been the same since Rupert Murdock took over.

India Eager For Social Security Treaty

From The Times of India:

India on Friday said it is keen to have a social security pact with the United States, on the lines New Delhi has with the European countries, to address issues like double payment by companies of both the countries.

"We are interested in a social security dialogue. We have discussed with the US side on the conclusion of what is called a totalisation of agreement by our IT companies," India's new envoy to the US Meera Shankar said at a reception hosted in her honour by the US-India Business Council. ...

"From the US side, interests have been expressed in commencing negotiations on a bilateral treaty and we hope to do that as soon as the new government is in place," she added.

Few native born Americans care about a Social Security treaty between the U.S. and India but this blog gets a lot of hits whenever I mention the subject. This seems to be of considerable importance in India. I suspect the importance to Indians may extend past the financial dimension. Getting a Social Security treaty with the United States may be one of the many signs to Indians that urban India, at least, is moving out of Third World status.

Social Security Hiring The Disabled

Social Security disability claimants who have been denied often ask "If Social Security thinks I can work, will they give me a job?" Now there is someone at Social Security that the claimant can contact As noted earlier, Social Security intends to make a concentrated effort to hire the disabled. Here is a list of the people who will be coordinating the hiring:

Selective Placement Coordinators

Atlanta Region	Alabama , Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee	Stephanie.White
		Stephanie.A.White@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		61 Forsyth St SW
		Suite 22T64
		Atlanta, GA 30303
Boston Region	Connecticut , Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont	Denise Cole
		Denise.Cole@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		JFK Building , Room 2175
		Boston, MA 02203
Chicago Region	Illinois , Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin	Kojuan Almond
		Kojuan.Almond@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		600 W. Madison 3 rd Floor
		Chicago, IL 60661
Dallas Region	Arkansas , Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas	Linda Walters
		Linda.Walters@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		Center for Human Resources
		1301 Young Street, Suite 130
		Dallas, TX 75202
Denver Region	Colorado , Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming	Nanci Tuggle
		Nanci.Tuggle@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		1961 Stout Street, Suite 844
		Denver, CO 80294
Kansas City Region	Iowa , Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska	Jennifer Minor
		Jennifer.Minor@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		601 E. 12 th Street , Room 501 Kansas City, MO 64106
New York Region	New Jersey , New York, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands	Jaclyn Lurker
		Jaclyn.Lurker@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		Center for Human Resources, SPO-NY 26 Federal Plaza, Room 4020
		New York, NY 10278
Philadelphia Region	Delaware , Maryland (except Headquarters), Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, District of Columbia	Nancy Torres
		Nancy.Torres@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		300 Spring Garden Street - 7 th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19123
San Francisco Region	Arizona , California, Hawaii, Nevada, Guam, Trust Territory of Pacific Islands, American Samoa	Lynn Gonzalez
		SF.MOS.HRC.Staffing.Classification.Tm@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		Center for Human Resources
		1221 Nevin Ave. , 2 nd Floor Richmond, CA 94801
Seattle Region	Alaska , Idaho, Oregon, Washington	Darla Anderson Darla.Anderson@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration Benefits and Employment Services Team, Suite 2900, M/S 292B
		701 Fifth Avenue
		Seattle, WA 98104-7075
Office of Central Operations	Woodlawn, MD	Yesenia Roman
		Yesenia.Roman@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		Office of Central Operations
		1500 Woodlawn Drive
		Baltimore, MD 21241
Office of Disability Adjudication and Review	Nationwide	Lolita McLean Priestly
		Lolita.Priestly.McLean@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		Office of Disability Adjudication and Review
		5107 Leesburg Pike
		Falls Church, VA 22041
Headquarters	Woodlawn, MD	Jim Anderson DCHR.OCREO.Selective.Placement.HQ@ssa.gov
		Social Security Administration
		6401 Security Boulevard
		2601-47 Annex Building
		Baltimore, MD 21235

Waiting In Texas

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Linda King says diabetes and heart problems forced her to quit her office job and apply for disability benefits in January 2007. ...

Two years and five months later, she still waits.

King, who was initially turned down for benefits, is among more than 750,000 Americans trapped in a backlog of disputed Social Security disability claims. Applicants who seek an appeal hearing sometimes wait years for one.

AFGE Not Buying That Social Security Is A Good Place To Work

From a press release sent out by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the labor union which represents most Social Security employees:

"While we applaud the noble endeavor of the Partnership for Public Service to recognize excellency in federal government agencies, we can't ignore the unfiltered facts that come to us from our members at SSA -- that the policies put in place by SSA Commissioner Astrue continue to press unnecessary hardships on employees and degrade one of the nation's most responsive and best-run public agencies into a troubled organization that no longer serves the best interests of retired and disabled Americans and their families." ...

"Since its inception, Social Security employees have delivered quality service to America's retired and disabled. It is tragic that their ability to perform this service has been hindered by faulty leadership," concluded [John] Gage [the head of the union].