Senators Pressure Trump Administration On Social Media Monitoring

     From a press release:

Today, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Bob Casey (D-PA) pressured the Trump Administration to provide answers to the American public following a report from the New York Times this week that the White House is working with the Social Security Administration (SSA) on a proposal to monitor social media accounts of Americans who claim disability benefits. The Senators’ letter raises several questions about the proposal related to the privacy of American citizens, the already limited resources available to SSA workers, the use of artificial intelligence, and plans to increase the scope of the social media monitoring program.

This Is Terrible

     From WFLA:

Mamie Walker is 84-years-old, has never attended college and depends on her monthly social security check of $1,498 to survive. 

But for the past two months, the government has sent Mamie nothing, except a letter claiming she owes them $224,414.50. 

A letter from the Treasury Department 

claims she has been referred to them for "collection action."  

The letter explains up to 15 percent of each of her checks will be withheld to pay the debt. That was shocking enough, but no check came at all in February or March. She received another letter stating she won't receive another check until Sept. 2031.

"I'll probably be dead by then," Walker said. "I'm so scared. I don't sleep at night because I'm so scared next week ... my lights are going to be off." 

Mamie says she not only never went to college, but she never learned to read or write because she had to go to work as a child to help support her family as a "field hand." ...

     I can guess that she guaranteeded a student loan for a relative. If not, this is one hell of a mistake. If it is a student loan for a relative, this points out the horrors of the current system. It’s possible for her to get out from under this crushing burden by declaring bankruptcy but it’s not easy.

No, I Don’t Think That SSA Can Solve Its Lucia Problem By Having The Appeals Council Deny All The People Who Filed Lucia Objections

      I’ve already heard some colleagues say that the new Social Security Ruling giving the agency’s response to the Supreme Court opinion in Lucia v. SEC means that the agency thinks it can solve its Lucia problem by having the Appeals Council itself issue de novo decisions in the cases. There are a couple of problems with this. First, the Appeals Council isn’t set up to issue thousands of de novo decisions. Second, and more important, the Social Security Act says that claimants are entitled to hearings. If you’re agreeing that the hearing that was held was constitutionally invalid, how do you get around giving the claimant a new hearing? There’s a lot of wishful thinking at Social Security. I hope they’re not so far gone that they think they can get away with that. I think the language that some are pointing to about the Appeals Council issuing decisions is only intended to allow the Appeals Council to issue fully favorable decisions in a few cases.

     I have to mention that after Lucia came down I told everyone who would listen that we should be filing Lucia objections in every case pending at the Appeals Council.

New Lucia Ruling

 The Social Security Administration is publishing a new Ruling concerning the effects of the Supreme Court opinion in Lucia v. SEC. I haven’t had time to digest the Ruling but it sounds like there’s a lot of remands coming for those who filed timely objections.

The Emerging Republican Position: Increase Social Security Benefits Just A Little

     From Forbes:

Increasing Social Security benefits for widows can get enough support from both parties in Congress to become law, House Ways & Means Committee Social Security Subcommittee lead Republican Tom Reed said Wednesday.  

Stressing the need for an increase at a subcommittee hearing, the New York Congressman said the current system risks putting new widows in poverty by cutting their families’ Social Security payments by a third to a half. 

“Increasing the Social Security survivor’s benefit to 75 percent of the couple’s prior benefit could prevent hardship at a reasonable cost to the program,” said conservative think tank retirement expert Andrew Biggs. ...

     The Democratic proposal is for a general increase in benefits.  Their bill would also increase taxes.

That Trump Budget Proposal

     From Michael Hiltzik writing for the Los Angeles Times:

Much of the news coverage of President Trump’s proposed 2020 budget, which was released Monday, focuses on two aspects.

One: It’s just a PR exercise, since presidential budgets never get enacted. Two: Trump’s demand for $8.6 billion to build his border wall sets up a new conflict with Congress and maybe another government shutdown.

What shouldn’t fly under the radar, however, are the huge cuts to social safety net programs embedded in the document’s 150 appalling pages. These include drastic reductions in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—which Trump always promised to protect from any cuts—and to food stamps, housing assistance and family assistance. ...

Trump would gut the nation’s disability programs by $84 billion. At least $10 billion of that would come from Social Security disability through changes in eligibility rules. Another $400 million would come out of the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget, which is already strapped for cash, in the next year alone. Beneficiaries could expect more busy signals on the phone lines and longer waits at Social Security offices. ...

Trump Budget Fantasy Released

     The Trump budget proposal for fiscal year 2020 is out. Overall, the budget proposes a 3.5% cut in administrative funding. Considering inflation, that would be a cut of more than 5% in rel dollar terms. That would undoubtedly lead to a significant reduction in force.
     Below are the primary proposals for Social Security. Click on each to view full size.

     Remember that appropriations must be passed by the House of Representatives which is controlled by Democrats. This budget is only a wish list that may have little to do with what actually gets passed.

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. ...