Order Of Succession

     Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue's term is up on January 19, 2013 as is the term of Deputy Commissioner Carolyn Colvin. I am already hearing questions about who becomes Acting Commissioner at the time if a new Commissioner has not been confirmed. It's unlikely that a new Commissioner will be confirmed for at least a couple of months thereafter. If we see the same obstructionism in the new Congress that we have seen in the last four years, it could take many months to gain confirmation for even a non-controversial appointee.
     Here's the order of succession with the name of the incumbent.

• Chief of Staff -- Jo Tittel
• Deputy Commissioner for Operations -- Mary Glenn-Croft
• Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance and Management -- Michael Gallagher
• Deputy Commissioner for Systems -- Kelly Croft
• Deputy Commissioner for Quality Performance -- Stephanie Hall
• Regional Commissioner, Atlanta -- Michael Grochowski
• Regional Commissioner, Dallas -- Nancy Berryhill

     This order could be changed by the President or the President could appoint someone not currently at Social Security to be Acting Commissioner.

Left Hand, Right Hand

     I received an Appeals Council reversal, that is a decision reversing an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) decision that had denied a Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability claim, last month. I wondered why my client hadn't heard from the local field office which is responsible for computing the back benefits and certifying their payment so we checked. Turns out no one had bothered to notify the field office about the Appeals Council action until we called. We had to send them a copy of the Appeals Council decision.

     If you wonder what attorneys do to help Social Security claimants, a fair amount of it fits into the category of knowing what Social Security's left and right hands are each supposed to do and then introducing the two hands to each other so they work together. Law offices have tickler systems so we don't drop the ball. All too often, lawyers are Social Security's only tickler system. I say this not to criticize Social Security so much as to point out the complexity of Social Security's operations. It's very hard to keep each individual part of Social Security functioning despite grossly inadequate funding. Keeping the parts of Social Security working together is extraordinarily difficult. It often requires outside help.

The Future?

     From Fast Company:

In South Africa, MasterCard has unveiled one of the world's first debit card-based payment systems for welfare benefits and social security. The new project, released for the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), will disburse government pension, disability, and public assistance payments onto a biometric debit card. Unlike normal debit cards, the South African cards require users to have their fingerprints and voices digitally analyzed by computers. In effect, they're the next generation of the EBT [Electronic Benefits Transfer] cards commonly used for food stamps in the United States.

Off Topic: Say It Isn't So!

     A world wide shortage of bacon may be "unavoidable" next year.

Sanders Warns Of Post-Election "Grand Deal" To Switch To Chained CPI

     From Sam Stein writing at Huffington Post:

Concern is mounting among some Senate Democrats that President Barack Obama will make a deal with Senate Republicans during the lame-duck session that would result in changes to the benefit structure of Social Security....

[According to Senator Bernie Sanders] "unless we stop it, what will happen is there will be a quote-unquote grand bargain after the election in which the White House, some Democrats will sit down with Republicans, they will move to a chained CPI."

Chained CPI, or consumer price index, is an alternative measure of calculating inflation that would lessen the cost of living increases for Social Security payments. When the president and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) attempted to craft a deal on the debt ceiling last summer, Obama offered the chained CPI as a concession.

     Chained CPI sounds boringly technical but it would be a significant cut in Social Security benefits.

Means Testing With Romney

     From the 60 Minutes interview with Mitt Romney aired last night:

PELLEY:  How would you change Social Security? 

ROMNEY:  Well, again, no change in Social Security for -- for those that are in retirement or near retirement. What I'd do with Social Security is say this:  that again, people with higher incomes won't get the same high growth rate in their benefits as people of lower incomes. People who rely on Social Security should see the same kind of growth rate they've had in the past. But higher income folks would receive a little less.

PELLEY:  So that in the Romney administration, in the Romney plan, there would be means testing for Social Security and for Medicare? 

ROMNEY:  That's correct. Higher-income people won't get as much as lower-income people. And by virtue of doing that -- and again, that's for future retirees. For -- by virtue of doing that, you are able to save these programs on a permanent basis.

     I don't know what he means. If he is talking merely about reducing the cost of living adjustment for higher income recipients, this makes no sense. You can't possibly "save" Social Security that way. General means testing of Title II of the Social Security Act could do the trick but would be unpopular. The ambiguity suggests that he is talking about general means testing.

Still Good Advice

Paul Ryan On Social Security

     Paul Ryan, the Republican Vice-Presidental nominee, said in 2005 that Social Security in 2005 is "a collectivist system, it's a welfare transfer system." He talked jokingly about wanting to "personalize" the "socialist-based system" of Social Security.

     Ryan is now backing away from his 2005 comments on Social Security.