First Circuit Rules That Puerto Rico Residents Can Be Paid SSI

     The First Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an opinion in the case of U.S. v. Vallelo-Madero holding that it is an unconstitutional denial of equal protection to refuse to pay Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits to qualified residents of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico residents are citizens of the United States but since the beginning of the program ineligible for SSI. If they move to a state, however, they can get the benefit.

     The background of the case is interesting. Vallelo-Madero was receiving SSI while living in New York but then moved to Puerto Rico. Apparently, he didn't tell Social Security he had moved but they somehow found out later. It looks as if they did a criminal investigation but eventually decided not to bring charges. Instead, they did something they rarely do, they filed a civil suit to try to collect the overpayment. It was at this point that he raised the defense that his SSI never should have stopped so there wasn't an overpayment.

     Social Security can now ask all the judges of the First Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case en banc or they can ask the Supreme Court to hear the case or they can give up and start paying SSI to all eligible applicants living in Puerto Rico. I don't think this Administration is going to pay SSI to a bunch of brown skinned people if it can avoid it. However, if Joe Biden is elected President in November and this case is still pending as I expect it will be, he may decide to accept the First Circuit opinion and start paying SSI to eligible people living in Puerto Rico.

SSI Recipients Must File Tax Returns To Get Stimulus Payments

     It's now official. If you're an SSI recipient who is not also receiving benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act, you must file a "tax return" in order to get the economic stimulus payments recently enacted. The "tax return" can only be filed online.

     This is terrible. It's completely unnecessary. Social Security's databases already contain all the information needed to make the payments. Social Security's databases are already being used to pay those receiving Title II benefits.

     This is a problem because many SSI recipients will never received the payment they are due because:

• They don't know that they need to file a "tax return" and no one is making any meaningful effort to tell them.
• They lack internet access.
• They lack an e-mail address, which is required to complete the "tax return."
• They can't figure out how to use the online form.
• The "tax return" requirement is going to generate a lot of calls to Social Security at a time when the agency already hopelessly overburdened with calls.

     Some may respond, wondering who lacks internet access and who lacks an e-mail address and who can't figure out how to complete the simple form. Many SSI recipients, that's who. If you actually deal with SSI recipients you already know this. If you don't, listen to someone who does. SSI recipients are far poorer, far less educated and far less sophisticated than most people can imagine.

     Why is this requirement imposed upon SSI recipients? I can't think of a reason other than hostility towards poor people.

     To respond to responses I know I'll get, of course SSI recipients haven't lost wages because of Covid-19. So what? Most people receiving the payments haven't lost income due to Covid-19. That's not the point of the payments.

A Once In A Lifetime Easter -- We Hope!

I Like The Handcolored Look Of This Waterfall Chart

Few Social Security Disability Recipients Are Aware Of Work Incentives

Click on image to view full size

From DI & SSI Program Participants: Characteristics & Employment, 2015, recently released by Social Security.

Will Decline In OT Be Reversed Due To Extra Covid-19 Funding?

     This was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in its newsletter, which is not available online to non-members. Click on the image to view full size.

      By the way, isn't it time to update the heading for this report? ODAR has been out of business for some time now.

What’s New? ALJ Union And SSA At Odds

     From Government Executive:

Officials with the union representing administrative law judges said the Social Security Administration is trying to implement an unfinished collective bargaining agreement, despite the fact that several elements of the contract remain pending before an independent impasses panel. 

The Association of Administrative Law Judges and Social Security reached agreement on 20 of 29 articles for their union contract last year. The other nine articles remain unresolved, and have been sent to the Federal Service Impasses Panel for adjudication in the coming weeks, although the union has objected to that, citing constitutional concerns about how panel members are appointed.  

In early March, Social Security Administration Chief Spokesman Eddie Taylor formally called on the administrative law judges union to ratify the portions of the contract not before the impasses panel by May 4, arguing that the remaining unresolved issues don’t need to be ratified since they will be imposed by the panel. ... 

Thus far, the union has rejected calls to ratify the contract, arguing that the 60-day ratification window should not begin until the impasses panel issues its decision. AALJ President Melissa McIntosh said it would be inappropriate to continue to push for early ratification of a partial contract while the agency responds to the novel coronavirus outbreak. 

“I think it’s really unseemly that they continue to pursue this during a pandemic,” she said. “They really need to be focused on making sure the American public receives essential services and that hearings go off as planned, rather than continuing its effort to eliminate the judges’ union. I really am stunned that they’re persisting with this.” ...

     The general rule in negotiation is that nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon. Is there some exception to that rule that applies here?

SSAB Urges That SSI Recipients Receive Covid-19 Relief Payments Automatically

     From a press release:

Today, the Social Security Advisory Board (“Board”) sent a letter to Commissioner of Social Security, Andrew Saul, urging action related to relief payments to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients and restoring representative payee monitoring.

The Board urged the Commissioner, under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Pub. L. 116-136), to work with the Department of the Treasury to ensure that those who receive SSI payments also receive relief payments automatically and quickly, without filing any forms. ...

     Honestly, unless your goal is to harass SSI recipients, I don't know why you want to make them go to the trouble of filing any kind of tax return. Social Security has all the info in its databases needed to make these payments. Forcing SSI recipients to file tax returns makes more work, not just for them but also for the IRS and Social Security, which will both be receiving phone calls about this.  Of course, one guiding principle of the Trump Administration is what some have referred to as "performative cruelty", that is cruelty for the sake of cruelty conspicuously aimed at disfavored groups. Poor people are certainly disfavored by this Administration. If you’re poor, it must be because you’re lazy or because God doesn’t love you. In any case, if you’re poor, you can’t be a Republican and that’s good enough reason for you to be punished.

     Update: More pressure on this issue, now from AARP:

...  When contacted by AARP for clarification about the requirement for low-income SSI and VA beneficiaries to file a tax return to receive a stimulus payment, an IRS official would only say that “guidance is still in the process.” In addition, SSA announced on April 3 that it is working with the IRS to clarify the requirements for SSI beneficiaries: “We are working closely with Treasury to address outstanding questions about our SSI recipients in an attempt to make the issuance of economic impact payments as quick and efficient as possible.” SSA added that economic impact payments won't count as income for SSI recipients, and the payments will be excluded from resource calculations for 12 months.

As it did with Social Security beneficiaries, AARP is urging the IRS to reverse course and make automatic stimulus payments to SSI and VA beneficiaries without the burden of filing any additional paperwork such as a tax return. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, free tax services for low-income filers such as the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program have been forced to suspend operations. ...