I Wonder ...

From today's New York Times:

Surging caseloads and a chronic lack of resources to handle them are taking a toll on judges in the nation’s immigration courts, leaving them frustrated and demoralized, a new study has found.

The study, published in a Georgetown University law journal, applied a psychological scale for testing professional stress and exhaustion to 96 immigration court judges who agreed to participate, just under half of all judges hearing immigration cases. The survey found that the strain on them was similar to that on prison wardens and hospital physicians, groups shown in comparable studies to experience exceptionally high stress.

I wonder what you would find if you did the same study with Social Security Administrative Law Judges.

First Mistake On Increased Fee Cap

I posted two days ago that my firm had just received the first fee check of $5,917, computed under the $6,000 fee cap that went into effect on June 22.

It did not take long for the other shoe to drop. Today, we received the first fee check for $5,217 that should have been for $5,917. How long will it take to get this corrected? How long will this sort of error continue?

House Appropriations Committee Markup Begins

The House Appropriations Committee has begun marking up the FY (fiscal year) 2010 appropriations bill covering Social Security. This markup is in subcommittee. The Chairman of the Committee, David Obey, has released a statement giving information about the chairman's mark, that is the starting point for the markup. Here is what it says about Social Security:

...[T]his bill sustains critical support for America’s most vulnerable children, families, and seniors. These investments include: ... $11.4 billion for the Social Security Administration, which provides the single largest dollar increase in the bill and the request – to help the agency process a rising number of retirement and disability claims, make progress in reducing the backlog of disability hearings, and improve services to the public.

The figure for Social Security is $200 million less than what President Obama had asked for. However, I would note that there are rumbles about a possible second economic stimulus bill. If such a bill happens, it will almost certainly include some additional money for Social Security.

Update: Chairman Obey's statement misled me. A more detailed summary of the Chairman's mark shows it to be the same as the President's proposed budget.

Fox News Criticizes Social Security Training Conference

Update: I do not want to claim credit or blame for this story, but you may recall that I had earlier expressed concern about expenditures for conferences such as this.

No Match Rule Being Rescinded

From the Washington Post:

President Obama will abandon a controversial immigration crackdown, sought by his predecessor, to pressure U.S. companies to fire 9 million workers with suspect Social Security numbers, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced yesterday.

Instead, Obama will mandate that federal contractors confirm the identities of 4 million workers against federal databases beginning in September ...

Compassionate Allowance Hearing

From today's Federal Register:

We will hold a hearing on July 29, 2009, to obtain information about possible methods of identifying adults with Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias and the advisability of implementing compassionate allowances for people with these diseases.

DATES: This hearing will be held on July 29, 2009, between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., Central Daylight Time (CDT), in Chicago, IL. The hearing will be held at the Drake Hotel, 140 East Walton Place, Chicago, IL 60611. While the public is welcome to attend the hearing, only invited witnesses will present testimony.

You may also watch the proceedings live via Webcast beginning at 9 a.m. CDT. You may access the Webcast line for the hearing on the Social Security Administration Web site at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionate_allowances/hearings0709.htm.

First $5,917 Attorney Fee Check

Today my firm received its first fee computed under the new $6,000 cap on fees under the fee agreement process. This higher cap went into effect on June 22. The fee came to $5,917 after the user fee.

It has become not uncommon in the last two or three months for us to receive a fee this quickly after a favorable decision. The payment centers have been doing a great job in getting claimants -- and their attorneys -- paid quickly after favorable decisions in Title II cases. Backlogs remain, however, in doing windfall offset computations and the reconsideration units at the payment centers are a disaster area.

Off Topic: GS-13s Be Proud, Be Very Proud

According to Alyssa Rosenberg at Fedblog, Neil Armstrong was a GS-13 when he walked on the moon.