The Spit May Be About To Hit The Fan

From The Hill:

House Democrats worried that a bipartisan group of six senators is making progress toward putting the recommendations of President Obama’s debt commission into legislation delivered a message Thursday: Take Social Security out of the mix.

“Divorce this conversation about deficit reduction from Social Security and making it a better program!” Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) told a roomful of Social Security advocates on Capitol Hill on Thursday

Becerra, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee, served on the debt commission but voted against its recommendations. He said the senators’ attempts to include Social Security in their budget fix is the wrong way to go. ...

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a member of the group, has said Social Security reform must be addressed in the package or it will be ignored.

Coburn, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) hope to produce a plan within weeks and are aiming to have a draft bill ready at least by the time the nation’s debt ceiling is reached this spring so it can be paired with that vote, sources have said.

AP Picks Up On Social Security Furlough Danger

The Associated Press is picking up on the story of possible furloughs at Social Security.

Union Concerns Over Possible Furloughs

An e-mail to union members from the head of the union local that represents most Social Security employees:

From: Witold Skwierczynski
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 10:41 AM
Subject: Furloughs in SSA

Folks:

I was orally informed by SSA labor relations yesterday that SSA intends to provide a notice in a day or 2 (i.e., today or tomorrow) to the Union regarding furloughs. I was also informed that the Agency had not yet decided on the methodology of the furlough (i.e., to close offices for a day a week, to close offices completely for a period of time, or to keep offices open with reduced staff due to employees being furloughed on a staggered basis). OLMER [Office of Labor-Management Relations?] could not answer any questions regarding the duration of any potential furlough. This is obviously speculative at the present time.

I have heard that SSA is having a high level management conference call today regarding the Agency’s furlough preparations. My suspicion is that they will be discussing the SSA furlough plan in the event of a government shutdown effective 3/5/11. I do not know if the Agency will declare any employees essential and force them to work without any guarantee of pay. In some past furloughs the Agency has closed all field offices. In other furloughs SSA has declared maintenance of benefit rolls as essential and kept skeleton staffs at work but such staff was instructed to take no new claims. In the 1995-96 furlough the Agency closed all field offices for the first 5 day furlough. They kept all field offices open during the 2^nd 20 day furlough and declared field employees essential. Employees were called back from X-mas leave and forced to work without pay. When the furlough ended, Congress reimbursed all employees whether they worked or not.

The union and management will probably attempt to negotiate an agreement regarding furloughs in SSA during the week of February 28, 2010.

AFGE Council 220 is planning nationwide informational picketing at SSA facilities on March 2 to protest the House SSA budget for FY 11 which if enacted will likely result in furloughs of a month for SSA workers. We need our brothers and sisters in the other components to join us on March 2, 2011. I am receiving more and more reports of angry and concerned employees who want to express their dissent.

…

I’ll keep you informed of developments.

Witold Skwierczynski

President

AFGE National Council of SSA Field Operations Employees

AFGE Council 220

Social Security Warning Of Furloughs If Republican Budget Proposal Adopted

Sent yesterday:

Mr. James E. Marshall, Spokesperson

SSA/AFGE General Committee

P.O. Box 1698

Falls Church, VA 22041

Dear Mr. Marshall:

Pursuant to Article 4 of the National Agreement, this letter serves as notice to bargain over the impact and implementation of a furlough procedure in the event of an Agency furlough. It is important to note that the Commissioner has not decided to effectuate a furlough. However, given the potential of reduced Congressional appropriations for the remainder of the fiscal year, the Agency is issuing this notice at this time in the event that a furlough may become necessary.

Following receipt of a request to bargain, management is prepared to bargain over negotiable proposals concerning procedures and arrangements related to the aforementioned issue. Any bargaining will be in accordance with the Statute and Article 4 of the SSA/AFGE National Agreement. Accordingly, since this notice is being provided electronically, any bargaining must commence no later than the first Tuesday following the twenty-eighth (28) calendar day period after the receipt of this notice. In accordance with Article 4, Section 1(B), failure to request to bargain within the timeframes set out for national level bargaining may result in unilateral implementation.

Pursuant to Article 4, Section 3(C), please submit your reply to this notice by electronic correspondence to DCHR.OLMER.OAC@ssa.gov. Should you wish to discuss this matter please contact Eddie Taylor at (410) 965-7066.

Sincerely,

Jay Clary

Acting Associate Commissioner

Office of Labor-Management

and Employee Relations

What Happens At Social Security If There Is A Government Shutdown?

The Congressional Research Service has prepared a timely report on what happens in the case of a government shutdown due to a budgetary impasse. Unfortunately, the main takeaway from the report is that Social Security is a special case so one cannot say with confidence exactly what will happen. The precedent from 1995 suggests that most of Social Security will stay open. The Office of Management and Budget requires agencies to have written shutdown plans. I have never seen a copy of Social Security's plan.

It's Weird

Yglesias on proposed cuts to Social Security's administrative budget:

Love it or hate it, Social Security is a pretty lean, mean, check-writing machine. Money comes in through payroll taxes and it comes out through checks. It’s practically automatic. But of course it’s not 100 percent automatic. It does need a few human beings to run it. But thinking that it’s somehow smart to try to trim the fat here is bizarre. Actually reducing the quantity of money in the checks would make old people mad but also save a ton of money. Gumming up the administration of the check-sending process packs a lot of oldster-aggravating punch but barely gets you anything. It’s weird.

Mainframe Back Up

From the Chicago Tribune:

The Social Security Administration's mainframe computers based in Maryland were back up this afternoon [Thursday] after being offline for several hours, a Chicago-based spokesman said.

The mainframe system situated on the East Coast that serves the entire country went down this morning, affecting the processing of claims for beginning retirement and disability benefits, among other services, said Doug Nguyen, a spokesman for the government agency in the Midwest. It was functioning again by early this afternoon, but systems analysts wanted to make certain the computers were working before announcing it, Nguyen said about 4 p.m.

Hearing Office Average Processing Time Report

Here is the most recent Social Security hearing office processing time report. The data is from Social Security and appeared in the newsletter of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR). Click on each thumbnail to see full size.

Compare the average processing time as it has changed over time:

• January 25, 2007 -- 508 days
• February 29, 2008 -- 511 days
• March 8, 2009 -- 499 days
• July 5, 2010 -- 415 days
• February 1, 2011 -- 371 days