Wait Until Trump Hears About This -- Social Security Helping Foreigners Work In U.S.

     From the Cape Cod Times:

The Social Security Administration will have satellite locations set up in Orleans and Provincetown starting Wednesday to help J-1 and H-2B seasonal workers finalize their applications before they begin working at local businesses. ...   

“Seasonal workers must obtain a Social Security number before working in the United States, and the Cape Cod Chamber (of Commerce) has worked on behalf of its member businesses to implement special remote locations to assist with their overall business operations and the time it takes to travel to Hyannis to fulfill Social Security requirements,” a statement from the chamber says.

Three Pinocchios For OMB Director Who Said Social Security Disability Is "Very Wasteful"

     The Washington Post gives Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), three Pinocchios for his statement that Social Security disability is "very wasteful."

ODAR Numbers

     Below is the Workload and Performance Summary for Social Security's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) for the month ending February 24, 2017. Click on it to view it full size. The National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) published this in its newsletter, which isn't available online.
     I noticed a number of things:

• New appeals are declining
• Overtime went up greatly starting in December
• Backlogs are going up
• Senior attorney decisions are minimal (see the footnote of the summary)

Nine Year Sentence For Stealing Social Security Checks

     From the Tampa Bay Times:

A former U.S. Postal Service mail handler was ordered to serve nine years in prison Wednesday for stealing close to $3 million in Social Security checks from a St. Petersburg mail-processing facility.

Stacy Darnell Mitchell, 48, once worked at the St. Petersburg Processing and Distribution Facility, where over the course of several months in 2012, he stole more than 3,000 checks....

That's A Total Of $83.2 Million If I'm Adding Right

     From the Associated Press:

A Kentucky lawyer facing prison time for a scheme to defraud the government of nearly $600 million in federal disability payments took another legal hit Wednesday when a judge ordered him to pay nearly $31.5 million in damages to the government and two whistleblowers.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar was the latest fallout for Eric C. Conn, the self-proclaimed "Mr. Social Security" who lived in a palatial home and was a frequent world traveler. Thapar ordered Conn to pay $12 million in damages and $19 million in penalties. The penalties represent the maximum $11,000 assessed for each fraudulent claim identified.

"He doesn't have those kind of assets anymore," said Scott White, one of Conn's attorneys.

Conn pleaded guilty recently to stealing from the Social Security Administration and bribing a federal judge. ...

As part of that plea deal, Conn is to pay $5.7 million to the government, reflecting the amount of fraudulent fees he received, and reimburse to Social Security $46 million it paid in disability claims based on fraudulent information Conn used. ...

First Social Security Regs Under Trump Administration

     From today's Federal Register:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is issuing a final rule to amend its Privacy Act regulation exempting portions of a system of records from certain provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, entitled Anti-Harassment & Hostile Work Environment Case Tracking and Records System. Because this system will contain some investigatory material compiled for law enforcement purposes, this rule will exempt those records within this new system of records from specific provisions of the Privacy Act.

     The Privacy Act allows individuals to inspect government records about them. This regulatory change appears to be intended to prevent individuals from inspecting these records.
     By the way, the website of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) doesn't show this regulation as one that was even submitted for review. I would guess that the OMB website isn't properly reflecting what's going on.

"Disability Isn't So Easy Even For The Desperate"

     Lynda Waddington of The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa explains why Disability Isn't So Easy Even For The Desperate.

"The Wheels Are Already Coming Off The Bus"

     From the Roanoke Times:

More than a million people, including 5,000 in Southwest Virginia, are trying to convince a skeptical federal disability program that they are too disabled to work. ...

Federal disability claimants who have been turned down for assistance, but who insist they deserve the aid, wait an average of a year and a half for a final decision from the Social Security Administration. ... 

People living in the Roanoke area wait nearly two years. The local office ranks 155th, or 10th from the bottom nationally, in average case processing time, according to agency data. 

A hiring freeze ordered by the Trump administration means there’s little to no chance for a substantial increase in staffing to address the problem, according to an association of judges who work in the system. 

“I shudder to think what will happen if we don’t get significant relief from the hiring freeze. We desperately need support staff,” said Administrative Law Judge Marilyn Zahm, president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges. 

“The wheels are already coming off the bus,” said Zahm, who hears Social Security cases in Buffalo, New York. ...  

One in three support jobs in the Roanoke office is vacant, according to association figures. One judge’s job is vacant as well. The backlog of disputed disability cases, which exceeds 5,600, isn’t large by national standards. But the office’s nine judges deal with above-average amounts of paperwork, which increases decision-making time. ... 

That’s especially true in Roanoke, where 29 percent of case files run more than 1,000 pages, above the national average of 22 percent. Small case files, those with fewer than 500 pages, make up 15 percent of Roanoke’s case load, well below the national average of 28 percent. A judge must read each file, including handwritten medical notes. ...