White House Wants Social Security To Snoop On Disability Claimants' Social Media Posts

Brian C. Blase

     From the New York Times:

If you’re on federal disability payments and on social media, be careful what you post. Uncle Sam wants to watch.

The Trump administration has been quietly working on a proposal to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to help identify people who claim Social Security disability benefits without actually being disabled. If, for example, a person claimed benefits because of a back injury but was shown playing golf in a photograph posted on Facebook, that could be used as evidence that the injury was not disabling. ...

In its budget request to Congress last year, Social Security said it would study whether to expand the use of social media networks in disability determinations as a way to “increase program integrity and expedite the identification of fraud.”

Since then, administration officials said, the White House has been actively working with Social Security to flesh out the proposal, in the belief that social media could be a treasure trove of information about people who are applying for or receiving disability benefits.

Some members of Congress, like Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, and some conservative organizations, like the Heritage Foundation in Washington, have supported the idea as part of a broader effort to prevent the payment of disability benefits to people who are able to work. ...

Brian C. Blase, a special assistant to the president for economic policy, has been coordinating development of the new proposals on Social Security. In 2014, Mr. Blase provided the staff work for a subcommittee investigation of the disability program led by Mr. Lankford, who was then a member of the House. Soon after he got to the Senate, Mr. Lankford proposed legislation to expand the use of “evidence obtained from publicly available social media.” ...

The Trump administration contends that it could authorize greater use of social media by regulation, without action by Congress. Under pressure from the White House, Social Security has drafted a timeline that envisions publication of a final rule in the spring of 2020.

Michael J. Astrue, the last Senate-confirmed Social Security commissioner, has expressed misgivings about the idea.

“Social media sites are not exactly clear and reliable evidence,” Mr. Astrue, who stepped down six years ago, said at a Senate hearing in 2012. “Facebook puts up phony websites under my name all the time.”

That, he said, is “why you need professionally trained fraud investigators” to evaluate the information. ...

The program has been “riddled with problems, including fraud and abuse,” said Rachel Greszler, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. When people who can work collect benefits, she said, “it drains the system for those who truly cannot work and support themselves.” ...

Social Security officials are considering other changes that could make it more difficult for people to qualify for benefits.

They are working with the White House to overhaul the way Social Security weighs various “vocational factors” — age, education and job experience — in deciding whether a person is able to work. ...

‘New York Post’ Publishes Report Exposing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s 9-Figure Social Security Number

  Headline in The Onion

CCD Issues Position Paper On DDS Reform

     The Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) is a large umbrella group lobbying and advocating in D.C. for persons with disabilities. The CCD is composed of about 100 organizations helping the disabled population. The CCD was largely ignored when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the White House. It becomes more important now that Democrats control the House of Representatives. 

     The CCD has put out a statement on Improving Decision Making at the Disability Determination Services. Here are a few excerpts:

... It is the position of the CCD Social Security Task Force that the state Disability Determination Services (DDS) should only review a claim one time and that the current second level of review they perform, called reconsideration, be eliminated. ...

Although the Task Force does not have a specific recommendation regarding what performance metrics should be for DDS employees, it is the Task Force position that the completeness of the file upon which the decision is based should somehow be included in those metrics. ...

[Social Security should] Consider creating impairment specific explanations and forms that claimants can provide to their physician and other treating sources outlining what information is most helpful to SSA in evaluating the claim and including the types of tests which help establish meeting the listing in question. ...

SSA should review more denials of initial claims. TDRs [Targeted Denial Reviews] allow SSA’s Office of Quality Review (OQR) to examine unfavorable decisions of disability claims issued by state agencies. Fewer than 3 percent of initial level denials receive TDRs; the number performed varies each year based on resources available to the agency. In comparison, Sections 221 (c) and 1633 (e) of the Social Security Act require SSA to review at least half of the favorable decisions issued by state agencies. ...

Two Congressional Hearings Next Week

     The House Social Security Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for March 12 on Protecting and Enhancing Social Security: Enhancing Social Security To Strengthen The Middle Class. The Subcommittee hasn't yet posted it but the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) says the Subcommittee has another hearing scheduled for the following day on  Protecting and Enhancing Social Security: Benefit Enhancements.

OIG Seeking More Help

     Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) seeking a contractor to help do investigations of alleged fraud in the Chicago area. This isn't just office work. They want the contractor to provide employees who have concealed carry permits. 

     OIG agents plus contracts with local law enforcement aren't enough? You get the feeling that OIG is rolling in dough while the rest of the agency is starving.

Don't Do This

     From the Press of Atlantic City:

A Social Security Administration employee admitted Monday to unlawfully accessing the Social Security accounts of individuals and falsifying their records to steal funds for his own use, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Nicholas Pao, 37, of Egg Harbor Township, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez in federal court to charges of theft of government funds and aggravated identity theft, Carpenito said.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Pao was a 10-year employee of the Social Security Administration who worked as a claims technical expert in the administration’s office in Egg Harbor Township, Carpenito said.

Pao was responsible for determining eligibility and payment amounts, processing difficult cases, assisting in case reviews, and making special payment approvals, Carpenito said.

From December 2014 to July of last year, Pao used his credentials to access the confidential records of several individuals without their knowledge or authority, Carpenito said.

Pao altered their records and made fraudulent changes that caused the Social Security Administration to issue benefits to these individuals, Carpenito said. He would then intercept these benefits, which were issued by way of a Direct Express account and credit card. ...

MSPB Paralyzed

     The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) no longer has any Senate confirmed members, making it unclear whether it can function at all. 

     The only way that Administrative Law Judges may be disciplined is by their employing agency bringing an action before the MSPB. 

     Of course, the MSPB is also supposed to provide federal employees more generally the opportunity for a hearing if they feel that their employing agency has treated them in an illegal way.

     Here's Government Executive's explanation for the lack of confirmed MSPB members:

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has already approved two of President Trump’s nominees to serve at MSPB. Senate Republicans have said they will not vote on those two individuals, however, until Trump nominates a third board member to ensure the board maintains a Republican majority. Trump’s third nominee, Andrew Maunz, withdrew his name from consideration earlier this month. 

     I can't understand why it would be crucial that the MSPB have a Republican majority during the interregnum until another Republican can be confirmed. If there are two members, one a Republican and one a Democrat, there won't be a majority to take any action unless they're in agreement with each other. How can that be worse than having no one confirmed? Shouldn't the MSPB be run in as nonpartisan way as possible? This sad state of affairs may be a sign of just how hyper-partisan the GOP has become.

Glad They Caught This Guy

     From a press release:

Jason Pantone, age 34, of Hyde Park, New York, was arrested and charged in a criminal complaint with mailing envelopes containing suspicious white powder to federal offices in New York and Connecticut ...

As alleged in the criminal complaint, Pantone is accused of using the U.S. mail to send envelopes containing white power to locations in New York and Connecticut.  Each envelope contained suspicious white powder and a note indicating, or implying, that the powder was dangerous or intended to cause harm. The complaint alleges that beginning in February 2019, Pantone mailed envelopes addressed to the Social Security Administration Offices in the towns and cities of Plattsburgh, Binghamton, Utica, West Nyack, White Plains, New York, as well as offices in Hartford and Torrington, Connecticut.  The complaint also alleges that additional letters were addressed to United States District Court offices in Syracuse, Binghamton, Albany, Plattsburgh, and Utica.  All the envelopes contained a typed note, which said “ANTHRAX.” 

All samples of the white powder tested thus far have not contained hazardous material. ...