Social Security Folds

     WYMT-TV reports that "Social Security Administration officials announced Thursday disability benefits for hundreds of Appalachian residents will be restored."

Television Coverage For Kentucky Fiasco

     The local television station is covering the fiasco in Kentucky.

But We've Really Been Pressed By Republicans In Congress To Do Something!

     From the Lexington Herald-Dispatch:

The Social Security Administration has until 5 p.m. Thursday to respond to attorneys who seek an injunction to block the immediate suspension of disability benefits to more than 900 people, according to a court order entered Wednesday. ...

U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar scheduled a telephonic hearing on the injunction for 3 p.m. Friday.

[The attorney's] motion, filed late Tuesday, linked as many as three suicides to the suspension notices. He first learned of an Ivel, Ky., man's death, whose widow he cited in saying the client shot himself Monday. ...

U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., and U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., called upon Social Security to give each person more time to provide medical records to support their original claim, according to letters sent to Social Security's Acting Commissioner Carolyn Colvin. ...

I Have A Feeling

     Why do I have a feeling that Social Security management expects the U.S. District Court to enter a preliminary injunction preventing the agency from summarily cutting off disability benefits to 900 of Eric Conn's former clients and that agency management will be relieved when that happens?

Today's Congressional Hearing

     Here's the witness list for the hearing at 10:00 EDT before the Human Resources Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee:

Panel 1

• Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX)
  Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX)
  Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA)
  Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
  Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY)
  Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH)
  Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)

Panel 2

• Patrick P. O’Carroll, Jr., Inspector General, Social Security Administration
• Dan Bertoni, Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues, Government Accountability Office
• Curt Eysink, Executive Director, Louisiana Workforce Commission
• Debra Rohlman, Vice President of Government Sales, Equifax Workforce Solutions
• Rebecca Vallas, Director of Policy for Poverty to Prosperity Program, Center for American Progress

     Let me explain one thing. The Human Resources Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over Supplemental Security Income but not Social Security which has its own Subcommittee. Occasionally the two Subcommittees hold joint hearings but this isn't a joint hearing. There may be testimony today touching on Social Security but this Subcommittee can't advance legislation dealing with Social Security.

Take It Up With The Department Of Justice

     From the summary of a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

Between February 1962 and January 2015, SSA paid $20.2 million in benefits to 133 individuals alleged, or found, to have participated in Nazi persecution. This occurred because the Social Security Act did not prohibit the payment of most of these benefits when they were paid. The $20.2 million in payments included $14.5 million paid to 95 beneficiaries who were not deported and $5.7 million paid to 38 beneficiaries who were deported. 

Ways And Means Schedules Hearing For Wednesday

     From a press release:

Today, Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee Chairman Charles Boustany (R-LA) announced that the subcommittee will hold a hearing titled, “Protecting the Safety Net from Waste, Fraud, and Abuse.” The hearing will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 3 ...  

In view of the limited time available, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include Members of Congress with reform proposals as well as experts on the operation of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs. ... 

In announcing the hearing, Chairman Boustany stated, “The SSI and UI programs annually waste billions of dollars due to improper payment rates that average around 10 percent year after year. It’s long past time that we identify the causes and start implementing real reforms to improve the integrity of these programs. That will benefit taxpayers, but especially those who most need this assistance.”

Class Action Lawsuit Over Terminations Of Benefits

     A class action lawsuit has been brought against the Social Security Administration over the termination of benefits which had been going to approximately 900 firmer clients of Eric Conn. 

     Meanwhile the Lexington Herald-Leader has run an editorial criticizing Social Security for cutting off these benefits but not prosecuting Conn. It's not just me who finds it peculiar that the evidence exists to justify summarily cutting 900 people off benefits but the evidence doesn't exist to suspend Conn from practicing before Social Security, a civil matter which would only require proof by a preponderance of the evidence, much less to bring criminal charges against him. Social Security can yell "It's fraud! It's fraud!" all they want but this doesn't make sense.