Former Social Security Commissioner Hardy Still Active

From a press release:

Dorcas R. Hardy, former Commissioner of Social Security, has been named Chair of the National Advisory Board for Early Bird Alert Inc. (EBA), the company dedicated to improving health and connectivity for seniors and the chronically ill, it was announced today.

Ms. Hardy, who served under President Ronald Reagan and is president of DRHardy & Associates, a public policy firm in Washington, D.C., will lead experts in the fields of aging and disability services to advise EBA in the development and implementation of EasyConnect™, its new in-home communications device and service designed to help seniors and patients with chronic medical conditions take better care of their health. 

Major Reorganization And Personnel Changes

Social Security

Memorandum                                             

^Date:   June 24, 2011  

^To:     Senior Staff

^From:   Michael J. Astrue  /s/

        Commissioner   

^Subject:        Organizational Realignments and Executive Personnel Assignments - INFORMATION

To maximize our efficiency during these lean budget times, I am implementing several functional and organizational realignments now and in the coming weeks.   Below is a high-level overview of some of those changes along with some executive personnel announcements.  

Effective immediately, the Offices of Innovation and Investment Management will move from the Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) to the Office of Systems (OS).  Karen Palm and Lester Diamond will move to OS with their respective functions.  Deputy Commissioner Carolyn Colvin will take the lead for the Future Systems Technology Advisory Panel.  Functional responsibility for Health IT will also move to OS.

Ephraim Feig, former Associate CIO for Vision and Strategy, is no longer with the agency.  From the Office of Vision and Strategy, the Division of Strategic Services will move to the Office of Quality Performance (OQP), and the Division of IT Strategy will move to OS.

From the Office of Open Government, the Notice Improvement Staff and the Transparency and Citizen Engagement Staff will move to the Office of Communications under the continuing leadership of Alan Lane, and the Division of Authentication will move to the Office of Electronic Services in Operations.  

Greg Pace, Deputy CIO, has accepted a Senior Advisor position with Deputy Commissioner Colvin.

I am taking the first steps to reorganize functions in the Office of Budget, Finance and Management.  The security and emergency preparedness functions currently in the Office of Facilities Management (OFM) will move to the newly created Associate Commissioner-level Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness.  Jim Bentley, currently Associate Commissioner (AC) for Budget, Facilities and Security (OBFS) in the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR), will be Associate Commissioner and Mike Kramer, currently Deputy AC for Facilities Management, will be Deputy AC for this new Office.   

I am eliminating the Office of Publications and Logistics Management to consolidate the logistics functions in a new Office titled the Office of Facilities and Supply Management (OFSM).  OPLM’s publications programs will transfer to the Office of Communications (OCOMM).  

Gary Arnold will be the AC for OFSM and Lydia Marshall will be the Deputy AC.    

I am moving responsibility for White House and congressional correspondence from OCOMM’s Office of Public Inquiries (OPI) to the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs.   

Betsy Bake, currently the AC for the Office of Facilities Management, will become the AC for Public Inquiries in the OCOMM.

Joanne Gasparini, currently the Deputy AC in the Office of Financial Policy and Operations, will move to OQP along with the program integrity/improper payments function.  Chris Molander will be Deputy AC, OFPO.   Teresa Rojas (SES Candidate Development Program (CDP) Class IV) will be Acting Senior Advisor for Audits.

In the Office of Budget (OB), Deputy AC Don Hartline will move to ODAR as Deputy AC for OBFS and Eric Jones, the current Deputy AC for OBFS, will move to Deputy AC, OB.

In ODAR, Frank Biro (SES CDP Class IV) will be the Acting AC for OBFS.  

Debra Bice is Chief Administrative Law Judge.  Judge Bice has been Acting in this position since January 2011.  

In OS, Steve Kautsch, AC for Enterprise Support, Architecture and Engineering (OESAE), announced his retirement effective July 2.  Ron Burdinski, currently AC for Applications and Supplemental Security Income Systems (OASSIS) will be AC for OESAE when Steve retires.  Debby Ellis, currently Deputy AC for Disability Systems (ODS), will be AC for OASSIS.  Sonia Miles (SES CDP Class V) will be Acting Deputy AC for ODS. 

In the Office of Operations, Michelle King, currently AC for Public Service and Operations Support (OPSOS), will be the AC for Income Security Programs.  Marianna LaCanfora, currently Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Retirement and Disability Policy (ORDP), will be the AC, OPSOS.  LaTina Greene, currently Deputy AC for Central Operations, will be the Assistant Deputy Commissioner, ORDP.

Ruth Lacey, Deputy AC for Disability Determinations (ODD), announced her retirement July 29.  Linda Kerr-Davis (SES CDP Class V) will be Acting Deputy AC, ODD when Ruth retires.

In the Office of the Commissioner, Robin Kaplan, currently the Executive Secretary, will be the Executive Counselor to the Commissioner.  Tiffany Flick, currently the Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff (CoS), is Acting Executive Secretary.  Aviva Sufian, currently AC for External Affairs (OEA) in the Office of Communications, will be Senior Advisor to the CoS.  Kojuan Almond (SES CDP Class V) will be Acting AC, OEA. 

Death Of Retired ALJ David Hubbard

Retired Social Security Administrative Law Judge David Hubbard of Forth Smith, Arkansas has passed away.

They Say We’re Young And We Don’t Know; We Won’t Find Out Until We Grow

From Starplus.com:

Millionaire pop legend Cher is eager to hand back her social security when she hits retirement age next year in a bid to help Americans struggling to pay their bills.

The Believe hit-maker will be eligible for pension payments from the U.S. government when she hits 66 next May ...

However, Cher is adamant she's too wealthy to accept the payments, and has taken to her Twitter.com page to ask how she can give the money back - and calls on other rich stars to follow suit.

She writes, "It's just my heart breaks 4 (for) the people of my country! Rich people should give their Social Security back 4 the 1's (ones) who need it. Someone said I should announce I want to give back my Social Security cause I don't need it! Great! I'm Down! But where? 

Still Negotiating Totalization Agreement With India

You may think this is a minor issue but I get a ton of hits whenever I post anything about it. It's a really big deal in India. This totalization agreement negotiation with India has been going on forever. From Rediff.com:

India on Friday asked the United States to move ahead with an agreement which would exempt professionals from payment of [Social] security taxes to mitigate the impact of a visa fee hike last year.

Both the sides are negotiating Bilateral Totalisation Agreement (BTA), which once signed, would benefit lakhs of Indians who are working in America and paying social security but are unable to get any benefit out of it.

By the way, lakhs means hundreds of thousands in the Indian dialect of English. India has the second largest population of English speakers on the planet. I think they're entitled to add a few words of their own to the English language.

Disability Fraud Ring In Seattle

From KING:

Nine members of one Seattle area family who allegedly collected over $700,000 by filing false mental disability claims and using fake identities were indicted on federal fraud charges Friday.

The defendants "claimed mental impairments prohibited them from working, when in fact they were working in various car sales businesses," according to a Department of Justice press release. ...

The defendants allegedly manipulated the Social Security disability program, also known as Supplemental Security Income, by faking disabilities at interviews, misrepresenting their work history and assets and using multiple social security numbers and numerous drivers licenses.

 

Early Reports On E-File Access At The Appeals Counci -- It's Not Working

I have heard from several attorneys who have tried to access e-file at the Appeals Council. No one seems to be able to access e-files there.

Congressional Hearing On Social Security Funding

 The House Social Security Subcommittee held a hearing yesterday on Social Security's finances. 

Stephen Goss, Social Security's long time Chief Actuary, testified about the underlying cause of Social Security's long term financing problem:

... [T]he real reason for the rising cost of Social Security over the next 25 years is the aging of the population, not principally because we are living longer or because of the post-World War II baby boom, but because of the drop in birth rates since the baby boom. ...

The fact that overall birth rates dropped from 3 to 2 children per woman in the United States has led directly to the change in the age distribution of our population that presents a financial challenge not only to Social Security and Medicare in the future, but also to every aspect of our economy. ...

Goss also addressed the question of whether the Social Security trust funds have any real significance:

Perhaps the strongest evidence of the importance of the trust funds is constraint they provide on program financing. History clearly shows that Congress is moved, even forced into action anytime a trust fund approaches exhaustion.

Thus, while Social Security has run a cumulative surplus of $2.6 trillion since it started collecting taxes in 1937, the rest of government has run up a debt now over $14 trillion and rising.

 Will this argument convince those who believe that the Social Security trust funds are a meaningless abstraction? Of course, not. They would be arguing that it's a meaningless abstraction even if the trust funds were completely invested in gold ingots.

The Subcommittee also heard from: 

• The Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, whose written remarks are about as tedious as one would expect from someone in his position.
• Someone representing a group of state and local employees who don't want to be covered by Social Security. Are you really sure given what's happening to public employee pensions?
• Alex Brill (who testified that if we raise the FICA tax, we should do it by extending it to employee benefits, which means that he's arguing for a middle class tax increase instead of an increase in taxes just on the wealthy) and Andrew Biggs (who recommended lowering benefits -- but not on poor people), both of whom work for the American Enterprise Institute and are thereby indirectly on the payroll of the Koch brothers.
• Mark Warshawsky, formerly a Bush Treasury appointee whose main job at the time seemed to be promoting Social Security privatization. He is now on the Social Security Advisory Board. He almost literally pleads in his written remarks that we not increase Social Security taxes on the wealthy. The first reason he gives is that this group has not "seen particularly large gains in earnings." His argument is that those earning between about $100,000 and $215,000 haven't had big earnings gains. It's those earning above $215,000 who have had the big gains! That's your best argument?