SSA Implements Trump Ordered Attacks On Unions

     From Joe Davidson at the Washington Post:

Enforcing President Trump’s crusade against federal labor organizations, his lieutenants at two large agencies have opened new fronts against government unions. 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) wants to evict all union offices from agency facilities, while the Social Security Administration (SSA) plans to “revise” 21 points in its union contract. ... 

Referring to executive orders issued by Trump, a June 5 letter from Social Security to AFGE gives “notice of the Agency’s decision to implement all three Orders effective July 9, 2018,” even as it couches the decision as a proposal. 

That letter provides a list of 21 contract items Social Security wants to change, including office space, employee rights, child care, elder care, equal opportunity, leave, training, health, safety, performance, discipline, grievance procedures, promotions — almost anything anyone can imagine. ...

House Committee To Consider Social Security Appropriation

     A subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider a large appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2019 today. That FY begins on October 1, 2018. This bill includes the Social Security Administration's Limitation on Administrative Expenditures (LAE), which is, in effect, the appropriation for Social Security. Here's some highlights of the chairman's "mark" (beginning at page 142). That's the subcommittee's starting point:

• LAE $12,422,045,000
• "$100,000,000 shall remain available through September 24, 2020, for activities to address the disability hearings backlog within the Office of Hearings Operations" but any of this not expended by the end of FY 2019 (September 30, 2019) must be spent on IT and telecommunications. This all comes out of the LAE.
• "[N]ot more than $1,683,000,000 to remain available through March 31, 2020, is for the costs associated with continuing disability reviews ... or the cost of co-operative disability investigation units, and for the cost associated with the prosecution of fraud in the programs and operations of the Social Security Administration by Special Assistant United States Attorneys ..." Again, this comes out of the LAE.

     The LAE proposed is slightly higher than the $12.393 billion proposed by President Trump but still only marginally higher than the figure for the current FY of $12.236 billion. It probably won't be enough to even keep up with inflation. It's less than what Social Security was given in FY 2017, $12.482 billion.

Social Security To Address Workplace And Domestic Violence

     From a notice published by the Social Security Administration in today's Federal Register:

... In accordance with the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. § 552a) , we are issuing public notice of our intent to establish a new system of records entitled, Social Security Administration Violence Evaluation and Reporting System (SSAvers) (60-039). On April 18, 2012, President Obama issued the memorandum, Establishing Policies for Addressing Domestic Violence in the Federal Workforce, which directed the Office of Personnel Management to issue guidance to all departments and agencies to create policy that addressed domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Because of this guidance, we developed the Workplace and Domestic Violence policy and program. 

We established SSAvers as part of this policy and program to record, review, investigate, and respond to allegations of workplace and domestic violence affecting our employees and contractors. ...

SSAvers will capture and house information regarding alleged incidents of workplace and domestic violence filed by SSA employees and SSA contractors, and will allow SSA’s Crisis Advisory Team (CAT) to review and respond to the reported allegations. Due to the investigatory nature of information that we will maintain in this system of records, we propose this rule to add SSAvers to the list of SSA systems that are exempt from specific provisions of the Privacy Act pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2). ...

Two Social Security Rulings Rescinded

     From a notice published by Social Security in the Federal Register (footnote omitted):

   ... In accordance with 20 CFR 402.35(b)(1), we give notice that we are rescinding the following SSRs [Social Security Rulings]: 

• SSR 96-3p: Titles II and XVI: Considering Allegations of Pain and Other Symptoms in Determining Whether a Medically Determinable Impairment is Severe.
• SSR 96-4p: Titles II and XVI: Symptoms, Medically Determinable Physical and Mental Impairments, and Exertional and Nonexertional Limitations.

These SSRs are unnecessarily duplicative of SSR 16-3p Titles II and XVI: Evaluation of Symptoms in Disability Claims, which was applicable on March 28, 2016 , published in the Federal Register on March 16, 2016, 81 FR 14166. SSR 16-3p, a more comprehensive statement of our policy on symptoms, explains how we evaluate the extent to which alleged symptoms limit an adult’s ability to perform work-related activities and a child’s ability to function effectively in an age-appropriate manner. ...

Social Security Employee Arrested

     From the Daily Herald of suburban Chicago:

A Montgomery woman has been indicted on charges that she pocketed at least $680,000 while working as a claims specialist for the Social Security Administration.

Officials said Ann Aroste, 42, faces five counts of wire fraud and five counts of aggravated identity theft in connection with five instances between August 2013 and May 2018, according to an indictment filed in federal court Thursday.

According to the indictment, Aroste began working for the Social Security Administration in April 2008 as a claims specialist processing and approving applications for social security benefits. Authorities said Aroste used her position to approve fraudulent applications for survivor benefits for people she falsely claimed had been married to deceased workers. Those five fraudulent claims resulted in at least $680,000 being paid by the U.S. Treasury Department to bank accounts Aroste controlled, officials said.

Officials said Aroste was arrested Monday morning and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment hearing later Monday afternoon.

Each count of wire fraud can carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, and each count of aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory two- year prison sentence after a conviction.

     I assume the Montgomery where this woman lives is in Illinois.

Social Security Operating Budget Under Consideration

     From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP):

The House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee may consider this week its 2019 funding bill, which funds the Social Security Administration (SSA) — and, when it does, it needs to continue the recent progress in reversing years of damaging cuts to SSA’s budget.

SSA’s operating budget fell nearly 9 percent between 2010 and 2018, after adjusting for inflation — even as the number of beneficiaries (including retirement, survivors, and disability benefits) grew by nearly 15 percent. The 2011 Budget Control Act’s (BCA) tight annual caps on defense and non-defense discretionary spending drove extremely tight SSA budgets, undermining its customer service by forcing it to close field offices, shorten office hours, and cut staff.

Policymakers increased SSA funding earlier this year, a step in the right direction but not nearly enough to make up the ground SSA has lost since 2010. The 2018 Bipartisan Budget Act raised the BCA budget caps for fiscal years 2018 and 2019, and policymakers responded by boosting SSA’s 2018 operating budget by $480 million or 4.5 percent.  However:

• More than half the increase, $280 million, will go for much-needed information technology improvements, which will fund about 40 percent of SSA’s multi-year IT modernization plan.
• Another $100 million will help address the nearly 1-million-case backlog in disability appeals by letting the agency hold roughly 50,000 more hearings.
• Just $100 million of the increase will go toward front-line service for Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, and the other programs SSA supports.  SSA needs over three times this amount simply to keep up with fixed costs like rent and employee health insurance.

So even with the increased funding, SSA is still struggling to keep up with rising demands, and its customer service problems continue. The agency has started another round of field office closures, prompting bipartisan concern in Congress. ...

Pending Hearing Requests Dropping

     From a recent presentation by Teresa Gruber, Social Security's Deputy Commissioner for Hearings Operations at a conference of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR):

Click on image to view full size

NAS To Get $20.5 Million Contract

     From a contracting notice published by Social Security:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) intends to issue a sole source contract with cost reimbursement task orders ... to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for a period of 5 years beginning on or around September 30, 2018. The NAS will set up Committees of medical, vocational, and other experts having expertise in fields such as, internal medicine, pediatrics, oncology, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, endocrinology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, occupational therapy, physical therapy, orthopedic surgery, industrial and organizational psychology, psychiatry, developmental-behavioral pediatrics, neurology, cardiology, vocational rehabilitation, health care case management, social sciences, education and health care and workplace economics. The Standing Committee will continue work necessary to maintain an essential capability for theoretical analyses of research, relevant evidence and clinical practices in physical medicine, psychiatry, and rehabilitation medicine.

... The size standard is $20.5M....

     The National Academy of Sciences is not a governmental agency. It's a private non-profit that largely functions as a beltway bandit seeking out this sort of contract.