Ted Kennedy And Michael Astrue

Michael Astrue, the Commissioner of Social Security, like the late Ted Kennedy, is from Massachusetts. Astrue has some history with the late Ted Kennedy. Here is an excerpt from the Stromata blog for October 31, 2001:

Michael Astrue, a moderate Republican whom I know slightly, today withdrew his name from consideration as head of the Food and Drug Administration. He was known to be President Bush’s top choice for the position, but Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, announced that he would refuse to hold hearings on an the prospective nomination. Kennedy doesn’t accuse Astrue, a former general counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services and current chairman of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, of harboring abhorrent right-wing opinions. His “disqualification” is that he has worked for Biogen, and the Senator opposes allowing anyone with a background in the pharmaceutical industry to be in charge of the FDA.

Kennedy did support, or at least did not oppose, Astrue's nomination to be Social Security Commissioner (see pages 61 and 62). Kennedy's letter to the Senate Finance Committee was not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Feinstein Asks For Sanity

The Associated Press is reporting that California Senator Diane Feinstein has written Governor Schwarznegger asking that he cancel furloughs for state disability determination employees. All salaries and other costs for these employees are borne by Social Security. The governor claims that the furloughs will not affect public service. Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue is saying that the furloughs could postpone $15 million in federal payments.

Binder And Binder Offices

I always receive a ton of hits whenever I post anything about Binder and Binder, which is probably the largest entity representing Social Security disability claimants. Here is an interesting excerpt from a press release issued, apparently last year, by MGB, a construction company that did some work for Binder and Binder:

MGB served Binder & Binder, a social security disability law firm, as general contractor for a structural redevelopment, expansion, and a complete interior fit-out of the firm's 22,000 s/f, two-story office building at 34 Industrial St. The $3.3 million project encompassed the addition of a floor, including a floor slab, steel columns, and beams; construction of column foundations; exterior renovation; demolition of the pre-existing space; construction of new office interiors; and new mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and sprinkler systems. The MGB team installed a new sewer ejector system that incorporates a pump and a ¼-mile pipe connection to the city sewer line.

Binder & Binder administrative offices, designed by UAI Urban Architectural Initiatives, encompass an open plan area, private offices, and a large employee cafeteria. The building features a new elevator and a staircase.

Social Security Loses On Federal Career Intern Program

From Government Executive.Com:

The Merit Systems Protection Board has ruled that a disabled veteran can legally challenge the government's career internship program, reversing a 2008 decision by an administrative judge.

The ruling deals another blow to the Federal Career Intern Program, created by a 2000 executive order as a special hiring authority for the government. A July decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia allowed a separate lawsuit filed by the National Treasury Employees Union against the program to move forward.

The veteran, Alvern C. Weed, said the internship program cost him a job with the Social Security Administration in 2005. Weed had applied for the job during the first round of hiring by responding to an advertisement on the federal recruiting site USAJobs.gov, and was added to a list of candidates who had preference because of their veteran status. But the supervisor in charge of filling the position ignored that list, according to the case, and instead selected two candidates who responded to a newspaper advertisement.

No COLA This Year

From the Associated Press:

Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise.

The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. ...

More than 32 million people are in the Medicare prescription drug program. Average monthly premiums are set to go from $28 this year to $30 next year, though they vary by plan. About 6 million people in the program have premiums deducted from their monthly Social Security payments, according to the Social Security Administration.

Millions of people with Medicare Part B coverage for doctors' visits also have their premiums deducted from Social Security payments. Part B premiums are expected to rise as well. But under the law, the increase cannot be larger than the increase in Social Security benefits for most recipients.

There is no such hold-harmless provision for drug premiums.

[Barbara] Kennelly's group [the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare] wants Congress to increase Social Security benefits next year, even though the formula doesn't call for it. She would like to see either a 1 percent increase in monthly payments or a one-time payment of $150. ...

"Seniors may perceive that they are being hurt because there is no COLA, but they are in fact not getting hurt," said Andrew G. Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. "Congress has to be able to tell people they are not getting everything they want."

A New Term -- Mega Disability Agencies

From the Texarcana Gazette:

A $9 million boost in federal funding will result in 150 new permanent jobs for an Arkansas state agency to process other states’ Social Security disability claims.

A legislative panel on Friday approved receiving the funds for the state Disability Determination for Social Security Administration.

“It’s manna from heaven,” said Sen. Steve Bryeles, D-Blytheville, before the request was granted without dissent.

Agency director Arthur Boutiette said Arkansas is one of five states to be designated as “Mega Disability Agencies” to handle other states’ claims.

“In the negotiations the last month or so, we told the federal government that we had some requirements of them,” Boutiette told lawmakers Friday. “This morning they did meet those requirements. These are new jobs for Arkansas, permanent jobs.” ...

The minimum salaries for the jobs will range from about $26,500 to more than $117,000. Typical starting salaries will be about $29,000. Boutiette said those will increase to $32,000 with satisfactory performance.

The agency currently has 281 employees.

Boutiette said the Social Security Administration asked Arkansas for help because nationwide, it is behind in processing about 750,000 claims.

“We’ve been No. 1 in the country the last four years in a row in quality,” Boutiette said. “We have one of the cheapest costs per case.”

Good thinking by Social Security and the state of Arkansas -- profiting from the foolishness of other states which have pointlessly furloughed disability determination employees during state budget crises even though the furloughs do nothing to help state budgets.

Probably Depends On How You Phrase The Question

From rasmussenreports.com:

Forty-nine percent (49%) of U.S. voters say working Americans should be allowed to opt out of Social Security and provide for their own retirement planning.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% disagree and do not believe Americans should be able to opt out of Social Security. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure.

A majority of voters under 50 say workers should be allowed to opt out. A plurality of those over 50 disagree.

Finding A Loophole

From Social Security Emergency Message 09-050:

The Social Security Protection Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-203) amended the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provisions to require that State and local government employees be covered by Social Security throughout their last 60 months of employment to be exempt from GPO. Prior to July 1, 2004, GPO did not apply if an individual’s last day of employment was in a position that was covered by both Social Security (under a Section 218 agreement) and a State or local government pension system.

The Educational Resource Center, Inc. (also known as John Wood Charter School or JWCS), located in San Antonio TX, hired 633 individuals to work for one day in order to meet the “last day” GPO exemption. SSA determined that work at JWCS did not qualify for Social Security coverage because JWCS had not entered into an approved 218 agreement between the State of Texas and SSA. Therefore, individuals who applied for their spouse’s or widow’s benefit after completing their “last day” at JWCS had GPO applied to their records.

The Attorney General of Texas was consulted and determined that an open-enrollment charter school, such as JWCS, is a governmental entity under Texas law. Since the Attorney General of Texas has rendered this decision, the State of Texas has taken the necessary steps to include JWCS in a Section 218 agreement that allows the entity to be covered by Social Security.

As an attorney, I have some appreciation for loopholes, but the involvement of the state of Texas in creating this loophole seems questionable to me.