Senate Hearing On SSI Today

      Here's the witness list for today's Senate Finance Committee hearing at 2:45 on Policy Options for Improving SSI: 

• Elizabeth Curda , Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security, United States Government Accountability Office 
• Stephen G. Evangelista, Deputy Commissioner for Retirement and Disability Policy, Social Security Administration 
• Mia Ives-Rublee, Director, Disability Justice Initiative, Center for American Progress 
• Kathleen Romig, Senior Policy Analyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
  

How Common Is Work From Home?

      What percent of the working population is working from home these days? People who are working from home generally think it's a fairly high number -- at least 40%. The reality is that in August only 13.4% of Americans who work were working from home. An article in The Atlantic deals with this issue of perception versus reality when it comes to work during the pandemic.

     Almost all Social Security employees are working from home now. Many have somehow convinced themselves that this situation will last many, many months into the future, perhaps forever.  This is unrealistic. All Social Security employees who want to keep their jobs must soon be vaccinated. I can think of no rational reason for Social Security employees to keep working from home after this happens. The risk just isn't there. We can talk about when and how we allow claimants back in field offices but the idea that it's acceptable, even during the pandemic, for vaccinated Social Security employees who only work around other vaccinated employees to keep working from home 100% of the time is not something the public will tolerate.

     Let me be blunt. Andrew Saul was mean to Social Security employees. So what? He's gone. Social Security employees don't get special treatment in perpetuity as recompense for Saul's behavior. Social Security employees should receive the same sort of treatment that workers generally receive. To get personal, I'm back in my office. Why are Social Security employees so special that they can't be back in their offices? As I've asked before, does anyone really think that Social Security employees are cowering at home, never venturing out to socialize or eat in restaurants?

    The happy talk posted here, probably by union shills, that productivity has gone up during the pandemic might be true for a few individuals but overall it's an absurd claim. Service has declined dramatically during the pandemic. Lack of overtime can only explain some of this. If nothing else, we all know that many Social Security employees lack broadband internet access at home. Almost none of them have dual monitors. Who finds working on a laptop to be as convenient as working on a desktop? There's no way to avoid it. Service has declined broadly and work from home is a major reason. If anyone has proof that there's been any improvement in productivity at Social Security show us the numbers. Otherwise, I'm not buying it. I'm on the receiving end of Social Security's service. I know what's happened.

COLA Projection

     The Social Security cost of living adjustment announcement is coming up next month. Here’s a prediction that it will come in at 6% or 6.1%.

Not So Easy

      Think it’s easy to get Social Security disability benefit? Think there are lots of cheaters drawing those benefits? You’re not alone. You’re not right; not at all, but you’re not alone in your mistaken opinions as Tom Margenau details.

Coming Down To The Wire

     The Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy of the Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a hearing for September 21 at 2:45 on "Policy Options for Improving SSI." 

     We're coming down to the wire on whether SSI reform will end up in the Budget Reconciliation bill. It seems unlikely that SSI reform will be in the House of Representatives' version of the bill. Senator Sherrod Brown, who is Chairman of the Subcommittee holding the hearing, is trying hard to get some SSI provisions in the Senate version of this bill. This hearing must be part of that effort. 

     There's no draft of the Senate version that's available to the public now. I would infer that Brown must expect that inclusion of SSI reform will still be up in the air as of September 21. 

     For complicated reasons that I won't try to explain, there's a deadline of September 26 on passing this bill. It's conceivable that could be extended but it might be difficult.

Social Security Seeks Return To Work Ideas

      From a notice that the Social Security Administration is posting in the Federal Register tomorrow: 

... Through this notice, we are soliciting suggestions for potential policy changes and services related to supporting DI [Disability Insurance] beneficiaries, SSI recipients, and disability program applicants in their efforts to return to, remaining in, or enter the labor force. We are also soliciting suggestions for other potential demonstrations. Responses to this request may inform our decisions about future demonstrations and how to design such projects. ...

Scammer Pleads Guilty In Houston

      From a press release:

A 37-year-old Indian citizen who was illegally residing in Houston has entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery.

Between April and October 2019, Waseem Maknojiya was involved in a telemarketing scheme via Indian call centers to extort money from victims in the United States. Maknojiya acted as a runner in these schemes, using aliases and fake identification documents to pick up more than 70 parcels containing cash the scheme’s victims had mailed.  ...

This Argument Seems Strong To Me

     From the Supreme Court amicus brief of the American Bar Association in U.S. v. Vaello-Madero, the case presenting the question of whether it is constitutional to deny SSI benefits to American citizens who reside in Puerto Rico:  

... As a threshold issue, all of the government’s justifications for the SSI law start from the premise that it has legitimate interests in treating Puerto Rico differently because of its territorial status. ...     

However, “[i]t is well settled that the Equal Protection Clause ‘protects persons, not groups.’” Engquist v. Or. Dep’t of Agric., 553 U.S. 591, 597 (2008) (citing Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, 515 U.S. 200, 227  (1995)). The “persons” whose equal-protection rights are implicated in this case are the particular Puerto Rico residents such as Mr. Vaello-Madero who would otherwise qualify for SSI, which is only a subset of Puerto Rico residents as a “group” or “jurisdiction.” The government’s justifications for the law must supply a rational basis for treating these particular individuals differently than similarly situated individuals who do qualify for SSI because they reside elsewhere. But because the government only focuses on how all Puerto Rico residents can be treated as a group, it fundamentally fails to provide a rational basis for discriminating against Mr. Vaello-Madero and similarly situated individuals who happen to reside in Puerto Rico. ...