Threat Of A Shutdown

     The federal government will shut down tomorrow if Congress cannot agree on a continuing resolution to fund the government. 

     The last time there was a shutdown, which was just last year, almost all Social Security employees were told to keep working. The major exceptions were employees of the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) other than the Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) and most of the Office of General Counsel (OGC). Even without passage of a funding bill almost all the ODAR employees were recalled. The OGC employees were recalled just before passage of the continuing resolution. Social Security asked the state Disability Determination Services (DDS) to stay open and they did for a time but some started closing down as the shutdown continued. 

     I expect that Social Security employees were told today whether they should come to work tomorrow if there's a shutdown. What's the plan this time in case there's a shutdown?

     By the way, when's the next federal payday? If the shutdown, if it happens, is still going on at that time, no paychecks can be issued even for employees who have been told to work.

OIG Report

     Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released its Semiannual Report to Congress. In Fiscal Year 2014 OIG received 121,461 allegations, opened 8,335 cases and get 1,291 criminal convictions. This is for a program that pays benefits to 63.2 million people. Only 6% of the allegations had enough substance to be worthy of an investigation. Only about 1% of the allegations resulted in a conviction. Whatever fraud there is at Social Security should certainly be investigated and prosecuted but it's only a tiny, tiny part of Social Security.

Social Security Asks Permission To Publish Final Rule On Submission Of Evidence

     Social Security has asked the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve a final rule on the submission of evidence in disability claims. If this has not been significantly altered since it was published as a proposed rule, it will be completely unworkable.

TV Station Reports On Hearing Backlogs

     A Nashville television station is reporting on the huge backlogs and long waiting times to get a hearing on a Social Security disability claim. Expect many more similar reports. The backlogs are approaching record levels.

Former Service Representative Pleads Guilty To Social Security Fraud

     From a press release issued by Social Security's Office of Inspector General:

A former employee of the Social Security Administration (SSA) appeared in federal court in Dallas this morning and pleaded guilty ... to one count of conspiracy to commit theft of government funds. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution. ...

In some instances, for example, [Carwin Shaw of Arlington, Texas, who was a Service Representative] manipulated the verified income attributed to Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries that resulted in the issuance of larger payments than authorized, the issuance of payments when none were due, and the removal of legitimate overpayments posted to beneficiary’s record. Shaw further admitted using the SSA’s electronic systems that interface with the U.S. Treasury Department to issue duplicate checks to beneficiaries when only one check was due. Shaw would cut additional checks to the co-conspirators by alleging their initial check had been lost or stolen, split the second check with the co-conspirator and then access the system and waive the overpayment so that it would not be recovered from any future benefits. Each co-conspirator was the representative payee for one minor or otherwise incompetent Social Security beneficiary.

The loss to the SSA as a result of all of Shaw’s relevant conduct is approximately $78,165. ...

Republican Members Of Social Security Subcommittee Announced

     Republicans have announced their list of members of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security for the upcoming Congress

• Sam Johnson, Chairman
• Jim Renacci
• Vern Buchanan
• Aaron Schock
• Tom Reed
• Todd Young
• Mike Kelly

Allegation Of Computer System Coverup

    From FoxNews.com:

Senior officials at the Social Security Administration (SSA) tried to hide a damning report on a $300 million computer system that lawmakers have called a “boondoggle” in order to protect President Obama’s nominee to lead the agency, a whistleblower claimed in an interview with FoxNews.com.  

Whistleblower Michael Keegan told FoxNews.com that McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm, issued a draft report in December 2013 saying the agency had spent $288 million over six years for a new computer system processing disability claims that has yet to launch.

But Keegan said he was present at a meeting of senior officials in May of this year where they decided to sit on the report as long as Carolyn Colvin’s nomination for commissioner was pending.

“They hid the report,” he told FoxNews.com.

Keegan said it was discussed at that May meeting that Colvin, the acting commissioner, had been briefed on the findings.

He added: “There is absolutely no way that [Colvin] could be in the dark” on the effort to hide it.

     If there was a coverup it wasn't very successful since word first got out about this in July. It seemed to be no problem for Colvin's nomination until after the election.

Average Age Of Disability Recipients Rising Steadily