Vote On Saul Confirmation

     Here's how the Senators voted yesterday when Andrew Saul was confirmed as Commissioner of Social Security:

Alexander (R-TN), Not Voting
Baldwin (D-WI), Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Yea
Bennet (D-CO), Yea
Blackburn (R-TN), Yea
Blumenthal (D-CT), Not Voting
Blunt (R-MO), Yea
Booker (D-NJ), Nay
Boozman (R-AR), Yea
Braun (R-IN), Yea
Brown (D-OH), Yea
Burr (R-NC), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Capito (R-WV), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Cassidy (R-LA), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Coons (D-DE), Yea
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Cortez Masto (D-NV), Yea
Cotton (R-AR), Yea
Cramer (R-ND), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
Cruz (R-TX), Yea
Daines (R-MT), Yea
Duckworth (D-IL), Nay
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Enzi (R-WY), Yea
Ernst (R-IA), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Fischer (R-NE), Yea
Gardner (R-CO), Yea
Gillibrand (D-NY), Not Voting
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Harris (D-CA), Not Voting
Hassan (D-NH), Yea
Hawley (R-MO), Yea
Heinrich (D-NM), Nay
Hirono (D-HI), Nay
Hoeven (R-ND), Yea
Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Johnson (R-WI), Yea
Jones (D-AL), Yea
Kaine (D-VA), Yea
Kennedy (R-LA), Yea
King (I-ME), Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Lankford (R-OK), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Lee (R-UT), Yea
Manchin (D-WV), Yea
Markey (D-MA), Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
McSally (R-AZ), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Merkley (D-OR), Nay
Moran (R-KS), Not Voting
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murphy (D-CT), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Nay
Paul (R-KY), Yea
Perdue (R-GA), Yea
Peters (D-MI), Yea
Portman (R-OH), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Nay
Risch (R-ID), Yea
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Romney (R-UT), Yea
Rosen (D-NV), Yea
Rounds (R-SD), Yea
Rubio (R-FL), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Not Voting
Sasse (R-NE), Yea
Schatz (D-HI), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Scott (R-FL), Yea
Scott (R-SC), Yea
Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Sinema (D-AZ), Yea
Smith (D-MN), Nay
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Sullivan (R-AK), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Yea
Thune (R-SD), Yea
Tillis (R-NC), Yea
Toomey (R-PA), Yea
Udall (D-NM), Nay
Van Hollen (D-MD), Nay
Warner (D-VA), Yea
Warren (D-MA), Not Voting
Whitehouse (D-RI), Nay
Wicker (R-MS), Yea
Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Young (R-IN), Yea

Crucial Decision On Social Security Union

     From Government Executive:

A panel tasked with resolving contract disputes between agencies and federal employee unions sided with management at the Social Security Administration on several key issues, gutting official time and telework rights for union employees at the agency.

In a May 29 decision, the Federal Service Impasses Panel weighed in on 12 proposed articles of a new contract between SSA and the American Federation of Government Employees. The panel asserted jurisdiction over the matters after labor and management officials negotiated for seven months on a new collective bargaining agreement, eventually coming to agreement on more than 50 provisions.

The panel gave a green light to a proposal by Social Security officials that would significantly reduce the amount of official time AFGE employees can spend on representational duties. According to the agency, the union used “roughly” 181,181 hours of official time during fiscal 2018, which officials said cost nearly $10.5 million. The agency proposed a “bank” for the union as a whole at 50,000 hours of official time per fiscal year, with individual employees capped at between 250 and 650 hours per year, and said it “is seeking to eliminate official time ‘loopholes.’ ”

     The Federal Service Impasses Panel is entirely composed of Republicans.  The union is livid.

Saul Confirmed By Senate

     By a vote of 77 to 16, Andrew Saul has been confirmed by the Senate as Commissioner of Social Security. His term extends to January 2025.

SSA Wants To Get Around Lucia By Having Appeals Council Rewrite ALJ Decisions?

     See below for an order from the Appeals Council concerning a case where an objection had been made to the consideration of the case by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who had not been appointed in a manner consistent with the Supreme Court's interpretation of the constitution in Lucia v. SEC. The agency thinks it can get around Lucia by having the Appeals Council rewrite the decision. Click on each page below to view full size.

     There are some obvious problems with what the Appeals Council has done. In Lucia itself, the Supreme Court didn't remand the case to the SEC to rewrite the decision. It specifically remanded it to a different ALJ. Why would the Appeals Council remedy the constitutional defect in a manner different from the Supreme Court? The Appeals Council is saying the hearing held previously was fatally defective yet it is not giving the claimant a new hearing. Isn't the claimant entitled to a hearing before an ALJ who was properly appointed? There's not going to be a hearing before the Appeals Council itself. There's also the not so small problem that it's been more than a year since the ALJ hearing and decision. The Appeals Council decision will cover the issue of whether the claimant is disabled all the way up to the date of its action yet the claimant is given no opportunity to submit medical evidence concerning this time period or to have a new hearing concerning this time period.

     I can only guess what's been going on behind the scenes at Social Security with respect to Lucia. My guess is that there's been a lot of disagreement and little leadership. Despite this order, I doubt that the agency's final position has been resolved. We'll see what happens once Andrew Saul is confirmed as Commissioner, which will likely happen later today.

     By the way, note that the Appeals Council supposedly issued this notice of May 22 but we didn't receive it until May 28. There are serious problems printing and mailing decisions at every level of the Social Security Administration. This matters because of appeal deadlines.

Saul Nomination To Get Vote Today

     There was a unanimous consent agreement in the Senate yesterday that the debate and vote on the nomination of Andrew Saul to become Commissioner of Social Security will occur today.

Senate Vote On Saul Nomination May Come Today

     The Senate is tentatively set to vote today on invoking cloture on the nomination of Andrew Saul to become Commissioner of Social Security.

Still True

OIG Report

     Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has filed its Semiannual Report to Congress. Here's a map from the report showing all of the OIG Cooperative Disability Investigation offices:

Click on image to view full size

     OIG obtained 372 criminal convictions or civil actions in the first half of the fiscal year and many of those did not concern disability benefits.

     By the way, why is it that these are disability investigation offices? Why don't they do investigations of other types of Social Security wrongdoing?