From Social Security announcement of the most popular names given to babies in 2020.
| Boys | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1. Liam | 1. Olivia |
| 2. Noah | 2. Emma |
| 3. Oliver | 3. Ava |
| 4. Elijah | 4. Charlotte |
| 5. William | 5. Sophia |
| 6. James | 6. Amelia |
| 7. Benjamin | 7. Isabella |
| 8. Lucas | 8. Mia |
| 9. Henry | 9. Evelyn |
| 10. Alexander | 10. Harper |
I happened upon a spreadsheet of Social Security field office addresses and phone numbers. This sort of information isn't as easy to find as you might think so I thought I ought to post a link here.
There's a four part documentary series coming up on Apple TV on the Eric Conn saga. The linked article doesn't mention Conn by name. It just says "The new untitled docuseries tells the unbelievable true story of one of the largest scams in government history." However, I understand that the filmmakers recently conducted extensive interviews of those with knowledge about what happened.
By the way, will it be possible for me to buy access to just this series without subscribing to Apple TV generally? Maybe a trial period?
As was widely expected, an issue has arisen regarding repayment of Social Security taxes that were not withheld from many federal employees late last year under a Trump administration policy.
Under that policy, the standard 6.2 percent Social Security withholding was not taken from the pay of federal employees who earned less than $4,000 in a biweekly pay period starting last September through year’s end. Employees were not allowed to opt out—many said they wished to—although the Postal Service was free to decline to participate, and did, because of its semi-independent status.
From the outset, concerns arose about the requirement that the amount not withheld over those four months must be repaid (the original deadline of April 30 was extended to year-end 2021). However, because that repayment generally is made through regular payroll withholding, there have been questions about employees who separate before the amount is repaid or who work on an irregular schedule.
According to the NFFE union, those concerns proved justified when the Agriculture Department’s National Finance Center, which administers payroll there and for some other agencies, “issued notices to over 10,000 individuals demanding payment by May 2 or they would incur penalties with interest and be referred to collections.” ...
From an announcement posted today in the Federal Register by the Social Security Administration (emphasis added):
We are announcing a new funding opportunity, the Interventional Cooperative Agreement Program (ICAP). The purpose of this new program is to allow us to enter into cooperative agreements to collaborate with States, private foundations, and other non-Federal groups and organizations who have the interest and ability to identify, operate, and partially fund interventional research. The Request for Applications is now open on Grants.gov. ...
ICAP research topics are as follows:
- Examining the structural barriers in the labor market, including for racial, ethnic, or other underserved communities, including people with disabilities, that increase the likelihood of people receiving or applying for SSDI or SSI benefits;
- Promoting self-sufficiency by helping people enter, stay in, or return to the labor force, including children and youth;
- Coordinating planning between private and human services agencies to improve the administration and effectiveness of the SSDI, SSI, and related programs;
- Assisting claimants in underserved communities apply for or appeal determinations or decisions on claims for SSDI and SSI benefits; and
- Conducting outreach to children with disabilities who are potentially eligible to receive SSI, and conducting outreach to their parents and guardians. ...
From Oswego County Today:
U.S. Rep. John Katko (R, NY-24) today led an effort calling on the Social Security Administration (SSA) to implement new and flexible options for Central New Yorkers who need to submit required documents during the ongoing pandemic.
This effort comes in response to calls Katko has received from Central New Yorkers who have been impacted by the continued closure of SSA field offices in Central New York. Rep. Katko led this bipartisan effort alongside U.S. Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D, VA-7), Dusty Johnson (R, SD-AL), Lauren Underwood (D, IL-14), and Elise Stefanik (R, NY-21).
For more than a year, over 1,500 Social Security field offices across the country, including the locations in Syracuse, Oswego, and Geneva, have been closed to the public due to the ongoing pandemic. Field office closures have particularly impacted Central New Yorkers who need to show original documents, such as a driver’s license, to process SSA claims, obtain a replacement SSA card, or access benefits. ...
If you're a field office employee, steel yourself. The field offices will reopen to the public before the end of the summer. If things stay on their current trajectory, by July 1 most businesses in the country will have reopened. Baseball games will be played before full crowds. There will be outdoor and indoor concerts before full audiences. It will be impossible to keep the field offices closed for long once we get to that point. Field office employees can talk all they want about ventilation and cubicles being too close together and Covid variants and so on but the public won't care. Andrew Saul is jerk but the agency will be within its rights to reopen the field offices once we get a higher percentage of the population vaccinated. I would guess that the agency will go back to something like telework as it was before Andrew Saul came along but the field offices aren't going to stay closed indefinitely.
The rate of growth in retired Americans who collect Social Security has slowed down sharply, and the drop may be due in part to the disproportionate number of deaths from Covid-19 among the elderly.
The number of people who received retirement benefits from the Social Security Administration rose 900,000 to 46.4 million in March, the smallest year-over-year gain since April 2009.
While the Office of the Chief Actuary at the government agency said it is still too early to assess the impact from Covid-19, the year-over-year change appears to reflect excess deaths. About 447,000 people who died from the virus were 65 or older, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or about 80% of total deaths. ...
I'm with the Office of Chief Actuary. Deaths among retirees may not be the only thing going on. Remember that the number of SSI claims filed is down sharply. That is widely attributed to field office closures. There could also be a slowdown in the number of retirement claims filed due to field office closures. We know there's a slowdown in processing people onto benefits after claims are taken which would have the same effect. Also note that the weirdness in the chart in 2001 and 2002 with no Covid-19 to explain it.
From Government Executive:
Unions at the Social Security Administration reported that the agency’s leadership continues to stall on efforts to reopen contracts negotiated during the Trump administration, three months after President Biden told agencies to do so via executive order and a week after a self-imposed deadline for SSA to review its collective bargaining agreements. ...
In March, the Office of Personnel Management issued guidance on how agencies should implement the order, which instructed agencies to reopen union contracts “as soon as is practicable.”
Later that month, following complaints of slow movement by Social Security Administration leadership to implement Biden’s workforce policies, officials at the agency said it was in the midst of a review of all labor contracts and that officials had asked the unions for their input. The self-imposed deadline for that process was April 23.
But a week after that deadline, the labor groups said they have not seen any new action by SSA leadership to reopen old agreements. ...
