Eanes Nomination Advances

     The Senate Finance Committee has favorably reported the nomination of Andrew Lamont Eanes to become Deputy Commissioner of Social Security. Senator Crapo cast the only vote against Eanes.

Sanitizing The File

     Let's say you're an attorney and you have evidence that a particular Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) is prejudiced against a certain group of people. I'm not talking about suspicion or an opinion or belief. I'm talking about specific evidence. I'm not talking about a specific case but let's say you make a Freedom of Information Act request for statistics on the rate at which an ALJ is approving claims depending upon the race of the claimant. You fight the agency for months, if not years, but eventually get the statistics showing a huge disparity. You get a hearing scheduled before this ALJ with a person whose disability claims the agency rarely approves. You file a motion asking for the ALJ to recuse himself or herself attaching the evidence showing the pattern of discrimination. The ALJ refuses. The ALJ goes on to deny the claim but makes sure to remove from the file all the evidence that you submitted showing the pattern of discrimination so the Appeals Council and a federal court can't see it. Can an ALJ do this? Sure, under a recent change to Social Security's HALLEX manual, the ALJ is supposed to remove from the file any evidence you submit concerning the ALJ. If the attorney submits an affidavit to the Appeals Council concerning the ALJ's behavior in the case, that must also be removed from the file.

The Writing Is On The Wall

     From KTNV in Las Vegas:

In a story that's only on 13 action news, a federal crime happening inside a federal facility and no one is doing anything about it.

Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears exposes the government agency ignoring the writing on the wall. 

"When I went in, I was actually dumbfounded."

Travis Knapp went to the Social Security office on Buffalo near Charleston because of one crime.

"My son's social got stolen."

But while there, he saw evidence of another. 

The scene? The men's restroom.  

"It was completely covered in graffiti. The mirror just completely etched into. The walls--the stall walls and everything." 

It's a federal offense to deface a federal building. And against state law, too. But the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says no one from the Social Security office has reported the crime. 

Police have a special graffiti investigation unit to tackle what they call the most costly property crime in southern Nevada--with a high success rate of identifying and arresting graffiti vandals. 

In fact, Nevada has the toughest graffiti laws in the nation. 

But Social Security hasn't said a word.

Travis believes there's another crime going on here--apathy.

"If there's something going on in your line of work, be it graffiti or somebody stealing from your company, and you're sitting there watching it and you don't report it to a higher-up to have it taken care of, you're just as much a part of the problem as the person doing so."

      Is there a name for a writing style which glorifies almost every sentence with its own paragraph? Maybe I shouldn't be too critical. It was written for on air delivery.

Eanes Nomination To Be Considered By Senate Finance Committee On April 18

     The Senate Finance Committee has now rescheduled its meeting to consider the nomination of Andrew Lamont Eanes to become Deputy Commissioner of Social Security for April 18.

Social Security To Require That Those Representing Claimants Use Online Systems To Access Files

     From a notice that Social Security will publish in the Federal Register on Monday:

This notice provides advance notification of the requirement that, for claims with certified electronic folders pending at the hearing or Appeals Council levels, an appointed representative must access and obtain a claimant’s folder through Appointed Representative Services (ARS) in matters for which the representative requests direct fee payment. Except under the limited circumstances described in this notice, we will no longer provide compact disc (CD) copies of the electronic folder to appointed representatives who request direct payment of fees. ...

A representative who falls under the terms of this mandate, as described, has an affirmative duty to comply with this requirement. We may investigate to determine if a representative violates this duty or is attempting to circumvent our rules. We may sanction a representative who does not follow these rules, as described in 20 CFR 404.1745-1795 and 416.1545-1595. However, we will not reject or delay a claimant's hearing or process a claim differently if a representative fails to comply with this electronic access requirement. ...

Still No Action On Eanes Nomination

     The Senate Finance Committee scheduled a meeting for March 2 to consider the nomination of Andrew Lamont Eanes to become Deputy Commissioner of Social Security but the meeting was later "postponed." It's never been rescheduled. I'd think that if it were a simple scheduling issue, it would have been rescheduled by now. It sounds like there's a more serious problem. If there is a problem, it may not be with the Eanes nomination. There were three other nominations scheduled for consideration at that time. If there's a problem, it may be with one of the other nominations. Even if the problem is with another nomination, at the least, it's certainly delayed the Eanes nomination.

Conn Out On Bail

     Eric Conn has been released from jail on $1.25 million bail.

Help For 387,000 Disabled People

     From a Treasury Department press release:

The U.S. Department of Education announced today a new process to proactively identify and assist federal student loan borrowers with disabilities who may be eligible for Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) loan discharge. ... The Higher Education Act allows for loan forgiveness for borrowers who are totally and permanently disabled. By proactively identifying and engaging borrowers who may be eligible for TPD loan discharge, the Department is fulfilling its commitment to ensure that borrowers who are totally and permanently disabled have the information needed to take full advantage of the debt relief to which they are entitled....

The Department of Education has been working closely with the Social Security Administration (SSA) to complete a data match to identify federal student loan borrowers who also receive disability payments and have the specific designation of "Medical Improvement Not Expected" (MINE) which, because of a change in Department regulations in 2013, qualifies them for loan forgiveness under the TPD discharge program. This streamlined and more accurate process ensures that eligible borrowers receive loan discharges. Approximately 387,000 borrowers were positively identified in the first set of matches which were conducted in December 2015 and March 2016. In total, these borrowers have a combined loan balance of over $7.7 billion, and roughly 179,000 are currently in default. As required by federal law, over 100,000 of those borrowers with defaulted loans have been certified for the TOP, and are therefore at risk of losing federal tax refunds, and of having their Social Security benefits offset. Today's announcement will ease the process of obtaining forgiveness for these struggling borrowers and ensure they receive this entitlement under the law. Beginning on April 18, 2016, borrowers who were positively identified in the match will receive a customized letter explaining that the borrower is eligible for loan forgiveness and the simple steps needed to receive a discharge. Unlike other borrowers, those identified through the data match will not be required to submit documentation of their eligibility. Instead, they are eligible for a streamlined process by which they simply sign and return the completed application.

     I started calling for this more than a year and a half ago.