Commissioner's Broadcast E-Mail

A Message To All SSA And DDS Employees

Subject:  The FY 2011 Budget

It is a relief to finally know what our fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget is, although I am frustrated that it is very late and very short of our expectations and needs.  Congress passed an appropriation that is nearly one billion dollars less than the President’s budget. 

While all of your work is important, we are not making cuts evenly across the board.  We need to do what we can to preserve the most critical activities.  Cutting all areas evenly is an easier approach, but it’s not the right way if we are going to continue to provide the best possible service.  Most of the cuts already in place will have to stay because easing up on them increases the likelihood of furloughs, especially next year, and I am doing what I can to avoid them.

As I have mentioned before, operating under a continuing resolution (CR) at last year’s budget level actually gives us less money than we had last year because our fixed costs like rent and guards continue to increase.  Regrettably, not only are we not operating at CR levels, but Congress also cut our budget below the CR level. 

Given the Nation’s fiscal climate, we anticipated the possibility of reduced funding, which is why we took action months ago to make cuts and stop hiring.  When I talk with you, you invariably ask for more people to help you handle the work.  Unfortunately, we simply don’t have the resources to lift the hiring freeze.  Hiring freezes make it hard to serve the public and manage work in offices that lose staff, but when we decide whether to hire new staff, we must consider if we can afford to pay them for as long as they stay with us.   Regrettably, even our strongest advocates in Congress are warning us that the best we should expect next year—just five months away—is funding at our current level.  Hiring staff now would increase the likelihood of furloughs next year.

I have authorized a small amount of overtime to support some of our most critical activities, including completing late day interviews instead of turning people away.  In this new, tough fiscal environment, you should not count on the availability of overtime when you make your personal budget decisions. 

Even technology, which has been instrumental in handling our increasing workloads, has taken a hit.  In spite of the proven success of our popular online applications—we took the top three spots for iClaim, Retirement Estimator, and Extra Help in the most recent ACSI report and outdid companies like Amazon and Netflix—Congress also reduced our information technology fund by $275 million, which will limit new technology that is the best way for us to manage our growing workloads.

Budget cuts of this magnitude have very real implications.  We are working creatively to come up with ideas that help us move forward, like suspending the mailing of the Social Security Statement, which will save us about $30 million this year.  With the support of the Office of Management and Budget, I expect that you will see a series of small but significant initiatives to reduce workloads that will also help us weather this difficult fiscal climate.

The choices we make going forward remain difficult.  I share your regret at watching the progress we have made, especially over the last two years, start to slip away.  One goal that we are doing our best to meet is our commitment to eliminating the hearings backlog by 2013.  When I became Commissioner, Congress made it clear that it had to be our number one priority, and that mandate has not changed.  We are on track to meet that goal, and I am giving ODAR resources to deliver on this imperative. 

Please know that we will continue to fight for the budget our work deserves.  Thank you for staying focused on what is most important during all of the distractions.  You should be very proud of all that you are accomplishing.

Michael J. Astrue

Commissioner

Here's To Keeping Alan Simpson Front And Center On The Social Security "Reform" Issue!

Alan Simpson  to AARP

 From Huffington Post:

Alan Simpson’s cold relationship with AARP is no secret, but the former Republican Senator from Wyoming took it to a new level Friday. At an event hosted by the Investment Company Institute, Simpson delighted the finance industry audience members by aiming a rude gesture at the leading lobby for senior citizens.

Financial and investment interests have long been supportive of Simpson’s broad critique of Social Security, since privatizing the old-age and disability support program would be a tremendous boon for Wall Street’s financial managers. ICI represents mutual funds and other money managers who control more than $13 trillion in assets.

Simpson’s forceful gesture came after an extended diatribe against Social Security, which he said is a "Ponzi" scheme, "not a retirement program.”

Means Testing Social Security?

From TPM:

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) offered cautious support Tuesday for the idea of adopting further means-testing of Medicare and Social Security to help shore up the finances of both programs. But the devil, he said, will be in the details.

"I don't want to get into means testing until we look at specific proposals," Hoyer said at his weekly Capitol briefing in response to a question from TPM. "Generally speaking, we do, as you know, have certain means testing in both Medicare and SS at this point in time. ... I think clearly we're going to have to make both of those programs sustainable over the long run, and I think to some degree it would be clearly appropriate to look at -- without endorsing any specific proposal -- the insuring that the least well off are protected and to do that look at the best off ... in terms of what level of support they get."

Fugitive Felon Policies Continue To Unravel

 From an Emergency Message that Social Security sent out to its field offices yesterday:

We previously informed you in EM-10061-SEN, that on 3/19/2010, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rendered a decision in Clark v. Astrue, finding that SSA’s practice of relying solely on outstanding probation or parole violation arrest warrants to suspend or deny benefits conflicted with the plain meaning of the Social Security Act. Because of that decision, we stopped suspending or denying title II benefits and title XVI payments based solely on an outstanding probation or parole violation warrant for individuals who resided in New York, Connecticut, or Vermont.

Upon remand from the Second Circuit on 3/18/2011, the District Court for the Southern District of New York certified a nationwide class in Clark v. Astrue that includes all individuals whose benefits or payments were suspended or denied on or after October 29, 2006 (If this class definition changes, we will issue another instruction). Based on this class certification, we are no longer suspending or denying benefits or payments based solely on a probation or parole violation warrant. However, at this time do not take any action to remedy prior suspensions or denials based solely on a probation or parole violation warrant.

Action to take on probation and parole violation warrants

Effective immediately, do not suspend or deny title II benefits or title XVI payments to an individual based solely on an outstanding probation or parole violation warrant with any of the following offense codes:

· 5011 – Parole violation
· 5012 – Probation violation
· 8101 – Juvenile offenders – abscond while on parole
· 8102 – Juvenile offenders – abscond while on probation
· 9999 -- with an offense charge symbol of “probation or parole violation.”
· “Blank”-- with an offense charge symbol of “probation or parole violation.”

Press Release On Help America Vote Act

A press release from Social Security:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced the agency is publishing data on its Open Government website www.socialsecurity.gov/open about verifications the agency conducts for States under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002.  Under HAVA, most States are required to verify the last four digits of the Social Security number of people newly registering to vote who do not possess a valid State driver's license.

“I strongly support President Obama’s commitment to creating an open and transparent government,” Commissioner Astrue said.  “As we approach another federal election year, it remains absolutely critical that Americans are able to register to vote without undue obstacles.  Making this data publicly available will allow the media and the public on a timely basis to raise questions about unexpected patterns with the appropriate State officials.”

The data available at www.socialsecurity.gov/open/havv represents the summary results for each State of the four-digit match performed by Social Security under HAVA.

Non-Disability Cases Transferred -- Why?

From the website of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR):

NOSSCR has learned in recent meetings with ODAR [Office of Disability Adjudication and Review] officials that some 10,000 appeals are pending at the hearing level with no medical issue, including overpayments (Title II and SSI) and SSI income/resource appeals. These claims are being documented with the help of new software tools and DDS [Disability Determination Services] training, and then transferred to the National Hearing Centers (NHCs) for a "limited" time to work down this large backlog. The agency plans to return jurisdiction to the local ODAR offices by the end of the calendar year. Non-disability cases already "scheduled" will not be transferred.

Advocates first reported one year ago that non-medical appeals were being transferred from the local hearing offices to a cadre of field ALJs [Administrative Law Judges] serving as specialists. The ALJ union objected – and has renewed its concerns about the new NHC version of the same plan – contending that the normal rotational policy is necessary to ensure the reality and appearance of fairness. Assigning claims based on ALJ specialization has significant APA implications.

Non-disability cases apart from overpayment cases are so diverse that the idea of special software tools for them seems bizarre. What would DDS training have to do with non-disability cases? Why would anyone train DDS employees on SSI income and resources or determination of age or paternity? How would that help the ALJs? DDS employees are certainly not capable of training ALJs in these fields. This explanation makes no sense to me. If anything, this sounds more like someone was trying to think of a justification for keeping the NHCs in the event that backlogs go down to low numbers -- a possibility that looked more likely before the last election than it looks today.

"More Efficient Delivery Of Service To The Public"

 From the South Whidbey, WA Record:

The Social Security Administration will make its last visit to the Langley contact station at the Bayview Senior Center on May 12, the agency has announced.

The reduction in service is part of agency-wide changes that officials said would provide more efficient delivery of service to the public.

Updated Fee Payment Numbers

Updated numbers on payments of fees to attorneys and others for representing Social Security claimants: Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-11	34,467	$113,459,847.04
Feb-11	33,305	$107,796,771.38
Mar-11	34,885	$112,463,768.46
Apr-11	48,033	$153,893,755.37