Witness List For Tomorrow's Hearing

Below is the tentative witness list for tomorrow's hearing at the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee:

Panel:
	Tentative The Honorable Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner, Social Security Administration
	Panel:
	The Honorable Barbara B. Kennelly, Acting Chair, Social Security Advisory Board
	Beth Bates, Claimants’ Representative, on behalf of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, Jackson, Tennessee
	The Honorable Patrick O’Carroll, Inspector General, Social Security Administration
	Ann P. Robert, Vice President, National Council of Disability Determination Directors, Springfield, Illinois
	The Honorable Larry A. Auerbach, Administrative Law Judge, on behalf of the Federal Bar Association, Atlanta, Georgia

Profile Of Social Security Employee

The Las Cruces [NM] Sun-News has a profile of Ray Vigil, a 37 year veteran Social Security employee. There are many other long term Social Security employees who deserve recognition for their service to the public.

Caseload Analysis Report

Courtesy of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) newsletter. Click on it to see it full size.

DDS Performance

Courtesy of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) newsletter. Click on it to see it full size.

GOP Concerns On Computer Center

From NextGov:

Key Republican aides met with the Social Security Administration's internal investigator on Thursday to discuss lingering concerns that the agency's aging data center will not be able to manage an increasing workload as millions more baby boomers retire.

Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee, and Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee's ranking member, sent a letter in February requesting that the SSA inspector general assess the agency's overall future information technology plans. In June, the inspector general found that the agency must accelerate construction of a new data center and develop contingency plans in the event its backup datacenter cannot support the agency's increasing workload if the new data center is not completed by 2015, the year SSA estimates the center will be operational. ...

On Thursday, Grassley's staff met with the inspector general about the latest report, discussed the new data center and asked the agency to keep the senator apprised of the situation, a spokeswoman said. Baucus had no response to the report.

Am I being too cynical when I wonder if Republicans are mostly concerned that money be spent not on personnel, who would mostly be union members and Democrats, but on buildings and equipment constructed or supplied by contractors who would mostly be Republicans? I have no doubt that the national computing center needs to be replaced but why is this such an incredibly urgent priority for Republicans since we now have a backup computing center in Durham, NC? And by the way, the Inspector General who recommended accelerating construction of the national computing center is a Republican appointee.

Republicans had majorities in Congress for twelve years. During this time they crippled the Social Security Administration with grossly inadequate appropriations. Neither Republicans in Congress nor the Republican appointed inspector general at Social Security said a word about the need for a new national computing center until Barack Obama became President. Current Republican concerns about Social Security's ability to operate in the future ring hollow to me.

Michael Astrue, Esquire

From Esquire magazine (number 16), quoting Michael Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security:

Our system can now scan each of the millions of disability applications we receive for key words to find cases that should be granted without question because of a medical situation. This saves money. Also, a word about insolvency: What that means is that in 2037, the current estimate for "insolvency," we could pay only about 75 percent of benefits. So it's not like there's a cliff. And my bet is that in fact it'll be pretty close to 100 percent.

News From NCSSMA

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, has a new President, Joe Dirago of Newburgh, NY. The Executive Committee of NCSSMA met on September 16 with Social Security's Deputy Commissioner for Operations, Linda McMahon, the Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Operations, Roger McDonnell and Associate Commissioner for OPSOS, Mark Blatchford. Here are some excerpts from NCSSMA's notes on that meeting:

• The 2010 budget is expected to be close to the Commissioner’s budget request but will not be enough to allow the agency to fill every position or complete all workloads. Resources will be directed at the high-profile workloads and where Commissioner Astrue sees the greatest need. For example, the Commissioner is looking at the decrease in public satisfaction with the 800 number. In addition, he is still concerned with the growing disability workload. ODAR [Office of Disability Adjudication and Review] has added significant resources and has decreased the hearings backlogs. We will finish the year with a total of just under 800,000 initial claims pending.
• Expectations are that the 2010 budget will be passed in November or December. In the meantime, Operations will continue to work as much overtime as possible. ...
• The agency brought on 3,700 new hires in FY09. [Fiscal Year 2009, which ended September 30, 2009] PSCs [Program Service Centers] saw a 5 for 6 replacement ratio, while the ratio for the field was 1.7 to 1. Budget forecasts for 2011 won’t be known until December. ...
• Mark Blatchford stated that he has made the Regions aware that there is Congressional interest in Work CDRs [Continuing Disability Reviews] and this is another workload that we need to work. There is no goal or mandate, but the Agency will be expected to report on our progress in this area at the end of year. ...
• Roger stated that the number of disability initial claims pending in DDSs has increased to around 780,000 this year. Receipts are up 14% to almost 3 million and are expected to reach 3.3 million in FY10. To address the growing volume, the increased hiring for the DDSs [Disability Determination Services] in 2009 will continue into FY10 and federal capacity for processing disability claims (in ODO [Office of Disability Operations] and ROs [Regional Offices] ) will also be enhanced. The agency is also considering policy changes and developing automation tools to streamline the medical decision process. When asked if consideration had been given to moving all DDSs from the three legacy systems currently in use to one system, Linda replied that we are moving in that direction. She also confirmed that the agency will be reinstituting the Reconsideration step in the ten Prototype states, but because of the expensive, it will be done gradually, probably beginning in Michigan. ...
• Commissioner Astrue is very concerned with the busy rate and time in queue experienced by callers and is committed to improving our 800# service. In addition to opening a new TSC i[Telecommunication Service Centers] n Jackson, Tennessee, he will likely provide 350 – 400 new hires to TSCs in FY10. Additional staffing in the TSCs has reduced the projected SPIKE hours [SPIKE hours refer to times when the PSCs cannot handle the calls they are receiving and other Social Security employees who do not normally deal with this workload have to be pressed into service] in PSCs to 291,000 in 2010, down from 325,000 in FY09.

List Of Non-Attorneys Qualifying For Withholding Of Fees For Representing Social Security Claimants

Via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Noel Anschultz has obtained a list of the 557 non-attorneys who have qualified for withholding of fees for representing Social Security claimants. This has been posted online by the CONNECT board.