Hearing On Rep Payees

     The Social Security and Oversight Subcommittees of the House Ways and Means Committee have scheduled a joint hearing for February 7 on representative payees for Social Security benefit.

Updated Organizational Chart

     Social Security has posted an updated organizational chart. There's lots of people in acting positions.

CIO Staying On For Now

     From FCW(Federal Computer Weekly?):

Rob Klopp, CIO [Chief Information Officer] of the Social Security Administration, told FCW that the Trump administration asked him to continue in his role to provide continuity as the new White House settles in. Klopp said he would stay at SSA "for at least the next few months," but did not have a definite end date in mind.

Shortly after Election Day during an IT Subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee hearing, Klopp demurred when subcommittee chairman Will Hurd (R-Texas) asked if he would hypothetically stay on board during the Trump administration.

The SSA CIO is in the middle of a wide-ranging IT infrastructure modernization project. In a recent post on CIO.gov, Klopp announced the deployment of the first piece of this effort, a disability case processing system dubbed DCPS2.
Klopp said that the Trump administration's agency beachhead teams have shown a keen interest in learning about what SSA is working on in terms of IT modernization.

"The teams we've met with have really capable guys who are really interested in what we're doing and how they can help and keep it going," he said. ...

Deep Thought

     Are Social Security disability claimants receiving "extreme vetting" already?

Trump Hiring Freeze Will Lengthen Already Terrible Hearing Backlogs

     From Bloomberg:

President Donald Trump’s federal hiring freeze may exacerbate a backlog of appeals for Social Security Disability Insurance that has grown so big that an average case takes more than a year to be heard [actually well over a year]. 

“These are people who are desperate,” Judge Marilyn Zahm, president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges union, said. “There may be a hiring freeze on federal employment, but there’s no freeze on people getting older, people getting sicker, people having injuries and accidents, and people needing disability insurance.” ... 

“To better serve the American public, the Social Security Administration needs more budget and staff resources, not less,” said Kenneth Apfel, who led the agency under President Bill Clinton and now teaches at University of Maryland’s public policy school. “I think it’s going to be pretty devastating,” said Michael Astrue, a George W. Bush appointee who served in the same role. ...

ERE Down

     Social Security's Electronic Records Express (ERE) system is down. It's been down since sometime yesterday. ERE allows attorneys access to their clients' electronic files at Social Security. Attorneys can upload new medical records via ERE. This may be the longest period of ERE downtime I can remember.

     Does anyone have any idea how much longer this will go on? Is it just those of us on the outside who are affected or does this affect Social Security employees as well? If this isn't affecting agency employees I wonder whether higher agency management is even aware of the problem. It's certainly becoming a big deal in my office.

Disability Trust Fund Improves

     Social Security has released the final 2016 numbers on the Disability Insurance Trust Fund. The Trust Fund balance had been declining over the last few years until there was a temporary reallocation of FICA revenues. That started at the beginning of 2016. You can see the improvement that resulted.

Disability Insurance
(Amounts in millions)

Quarter	Total income	Total outgo	Net increase in asset reserves	Asset reserves at end of quarter
Qtr 1, 2015	$30,582	$36,483	$-5,901	$54,343
Qtr 2, 2015	33,697	37,241	-3,544	50,799
Qtr 3, 2015	27,508	36,651	-9,143	41,656
Qtr 4, 2015	26,808	36,206	-9,397	32,259
Qtr 1, 2016	39,509	36,509	2,999	35,258
Qtr 2, 2016	45,519	37,049	8,470	43,728
Qtr 3, 2016	38,457	36,444	2,012	45,740
Qtr 4, 2016	36,512	35,914	598	46,338

ALJ Boini Case Attracts Attention

   The National Review, a right wing publication, has an article on a subject that I've posted about previously, Social Security Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Sridhar Boini, who has been charged with indecent assault on two Social Security employees and with having problems with alcohol. The allegations date back to 2012. The agency would like to fire Boini but that's easier said than done. Social Security has to go through special procedures before disciplining an ALJ. In the meantime, Boini is still being paid even though he's not working. This is pretty standard for this sort of situation and, yes, these situations do arise at Social Security. Only a tiny, tiny percentage of ALJs go so far astray that Social Security not only wants them disciplined but doesn't even want them on the job at all. However, with around 2,000 ALJs on duty the agency is bound to have a very few of these cases at any given time. The delays aren't Social Security's fault. The problem is at the Merit Systems Protection Board which adjudicates ALJ discipline cases. I'd be willing to bet that the backlogs at MSPB have to do with lack of adequate funding. I wonder if the National Review would support additional funding for MSPB to help it work off its backlogs. And, yes, ALJs do deserve additional protection against being fired. No one with any sense wants ALJs subject to being fired for merely being independent adjudicators. That doesn't seem to be the case here but take away the MSPB protection and the potential exists. Even the National Review might have been unhappy if ALJs had been fired for issuing decisions that the Obama Administration disagreed with.
     By the way, the National Review article talks about the raises that Boini has received but neglects to mention that they were nothing more than routine cost of living adjustments given to all federal employees. That's the sort of thing that makes you suspect that the National Review has an ax to grind.