Ways And Means Leaders Call For Saul’s Removal

      From a press release:

Today, House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B. Larson (D-CT), Worker and Family Support Subcommittee Chairman Danny K. Davis (D-IL), and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) called for the immediate removal of the Commissioner of Social Security, Andrew Saul, and the Deputy Commissioner, David Black, who were both appointed by former President Trump. ...

     Sending out press releases is nice but any of these Subcommittee heads can hold an oversight hearing and demand that Saul testify so he can be roasted. Firing him is one way of getting rid of him. Pressuring him to quit is another.

     I wonder what’s going on behind the scenes. Is the Biden Administration torn about what to do about Saul? Is this press release just a meaningless bow to employee unions?

Man Dies After Exchanging Fire With Security Guard At Norfolk Social Security Office

      From WAVY:

The man accused of shooting a 52-year-old security officer Feb. 8 at a U.S. Social Security Administration building in Norfolk has died.

Federal court paperwork says 44-year-old William D. Rankin died Wednesday at a hospital. ...

According to the authorities, Rankin had been taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries after the shooting. Staff at the hospital pronounced him deceased Wednesday.

The security guard he injured in the shooting was taken to the hospital as well, but was expected to fully recover.

     Can anyone recall any prior fatal shooting at a Social Security office?

Why No SSI For Puerto Rico?

     Matt Ford has written an interesting piece for TNR on the background of the Supreme Court case on whether it is constitutional to deny SSI benefits to U.S. citizens who reside in Puerto Rico. There's little question about it. This and other distinctions were made in the case of Puerto Rico due to racism. As Ford writes:

... In Dawnes v. Bidwell, the first of the Insular Cases, the Supreme Court described Puerto Rico and other newfound colonial possessions as “inhabited by alien races, differing from us in religion, customs, laws, methods of taxation, and modes of thought,” where “the administration of government and justice, according to Anglo-Saxon principles, may for a time be impossible.” ...

Supreme Court To Hear Social Security Cases Today

     The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments at 10:00 today in two cases that present the issue of when a Social Security claimant must raise an issue. Must it have been raised before the agency in order to raise it before the federal courts? This is in the context of Lucia challenges to the authority of Administrative Law Judges to hear cases but the Court's ruling will certainly affect Seila Law litigation. 

     You can listen to live audio of the oral arguments.

SCOTUS To Hear Windfall Offset Case

      Yesterday I posted the news about the Supreme Court agreeing to hear a case concerning whether it is constitutional to deny SSI benefits to disabled individuals who live in a U.S. territory. That was not the only announcement yesterday of a Social Security case that the Supreme Court would hear. The Court also agreed to hear Babcock v. Saul, which presents an issue of more limited importance, "Whether a civil service pension received for federal civilian employment as a “military technician (dual status)” is “a payment based wholly on service as a member of a uniformed service” for the purposes of the Social Security Act’s windfall elimination provision."

Supreme Court Will Hear Puerto Rico SSI Case

      The Supreme Court has granted a writ of certiorari, that is it has agreed to hear, the case of U.S. v. Vaello-Madero, which presents the issue of whether it is constitutional to deny SSI benefits to U.S. citizens who reside in the territory of Puerto Rico. I don't know whether this will be argued in this term of Court. If it's too late for this term, it will be heard in the next term, which always begins on the first Monday in October.

What Long Term Effects Will The Pandemic Have On Social Security?

      Nobody knows what the long term impact of the pandemic will be on Social Security. How much will the trust funds be affected by the economic downturn? Will the trust funds be healthier because of the people dying early from Covid-19? Will there be a surge of disability claims? Will the pandemic combined with the failed Trump presidency have generalized effects upon public attitudes towards government support programs? These are important questions but it will be years before we have answers to all of them. This article in the Philadelphia Inquirer contains some interesting speculation from some well informed sources.

NADE Newsletter

      The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), an organization of the personnel who make initial and reconsideration determinations on disability claims for the Social Security Administration, has posted its Winter newsletter.

     Here's an excerpt that concerns something I haven't yet seen in my office but probably will, eventually:

For more than a year, analysts across the nation have seen a huge influx in CDB cases [Childhood Disability Benefits, also known as Disabled Adult Child or DAC cases]  cross our desks, with people filing for Childhood Disability Benefits years or even decades after they were approved for SSI. A 38-year-old applying for Childhood benefits? Why now?The OIG’s office conducted an audit last year, summarized in a report submitted in December entitled, “Follow-up on Dis-abled Supplemental Security Income Recipients Potentially Eligible for Childhood Disability Benefits.” ... 

OIG recommended that SSA instruct their staff in the importance of following up on potential leads to other benefits and assessing eligibility for other programs during redetermination and initial claims. They renewed their recommendation that SSA establish an automated solution that identifies SSI recipients who may be entitled to CDB. ...