Priorities

      From David Weaver writing for The Hill:

Elites in America often marvel at the supposed ignorance of the American people, who, when surveyed, overestimate how much is spent on foreign aid. However, it is possible the public understands something the elites do not: Service from the government is often so bad that there must be something wrong with domestic spending.

Congressional appropriators recently provided more money for the country of Ukraine ($13.6 billion) than they did for administering Social Security ($13.3 billion).  ... Congress rapidly approved the president's request for Ukraine funding and even added an extra $3.6 billion.

Funding for the Social Security Administration (SSA), which runs the largest and most important program in the United States? That's different. Congressional appropriators decided to cut the President's FY 2022 request by about $1 billion, which will result in severe hardship for Americans, particularly Americans from low income and minority communities, who will now not be able to access benefits.

It's possible to laud assistance to Ukraine and still wonder what's wrong at home.

Since 2010, SSA's operational budget has fallen in real terms by 13 percent while the number of beneficiaries it serves has grown by 21 percent. 

The effects of underfunding an agency with a growing workload are not particularly surprising: large backlogs (one million Americans are currently waiting for a disability determination from SSA), a collapsing service infrastructure (SSA's phone systems are physically breaking down under the volume of calls), and furious members of the public who, in the most difficult times of their lives, cannot get help. ...

 

Something Coming?

     There have been rumors that an increase in the cap on fees that attorneys can charge for representing Social Security claimants is coming. That hasn’t happened yet but Social Security just saw fit to update its POMS manual section on increases in the fee cap. 

     I will say, though, that I look at these POMS updates generally and a lot of the time I wonder why they bothered with the update.

Senators Want Answers

    Three Senators have written Social Security's Acting Commissioner demanding answers about the agency's policies for long Covid disability claims. 

    However, so far, the real long Covid story at Social Security has been how few disability claims have been filed based upon long Covid.

Reopening Plans: Bringing Back Retirees, Union Negotiations

      From Federal News Network (emphasis added):

The Social Security Administration remains on track to bring most of its employees back into the office on March 30, and plans to increase in-person service to the public, including walk-in service to customers without an appointment, starting in early April.

SSA leadership, however, anticipates higher than normal wait times for customers seeking assistance for at least the first month of the agency opening its doors to walk-in traffic.

SSA is looking to hire back retired employees on a temporary basis to assist with crowds expected to line up at its field offices once they accept walk-in customers. ...

The agency plans to hire retirees to work in field offices for up to 30 days, but may extend assignments depending on office needs.

Temporary hires will be paid at a GS-11 base rate of $74,074 a year, plus locality pay based on their location.

SSA retirees accepted for this work will also receive a dual compensation waiver, which will allow agency retirees to continue to draw their full monthly annuity and a full salary with no reduction.

The agency is also offering to cover travel expenses, including lodging and per diem costs, as needed, for SSA retirees who need to work further from home. ...

Eligible retirees must have retired from a non-bargaining unit position and under optional retirement to be eligible for this temporary work. ...

These temporary hires will help field office management oversee reception area operation and lines of visitors waiting for in-person service. SSA said this assignment may include working outside or in adjacent spaces to help manage “overflow lines.” ...

Christie Saunders, the president of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 224, said SSA has agreed to its employees to telework up to five days a week, at least through the end of a six-month evaluation period.

NTEU Chapter 224 represents attorneys and paralegals that work for SSA’s Office of Hearing Operations. ...

The American Federation of Government Employees Council 220, however, describes negotiations with SSA leadership that have been more contentious and less productive. ...

AFGE Council 220 Executive Vice President Bill Price said the agency, so far in meetings with the union, has “refused to agree to implement any of our proposed ideas” for a safe return to the office. ...

Reopening Plans

From: ^Human Resources Internal Communications
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2022 8:55 AM
Subject: A Safe Return to Official Duty Stations

To:  All SSA Employees

Subject:  A Safe Return to Official Duty Stations

Please carefully read the updated Medical Office COVID-19 Employee FAQs, which become effective upon reentry on March 30, 2022.  While you must review the complete FAQs, below are some of the most important policy changes.  

Masking and Physical Distancing (FAQ #7)

All employees, contractors, and visitors must mask while in SSA space.  Employees may use a mask of their choice, so long as it meets the agency mask guidelines.  Offices will have disposable surgical masks for the public, and employees may also use these masks.  Upon request, the agency will provide KN95 masks.  Fully vaccinated employees do not need to physically distance from each other while in SSA worksites, but employees who are not fully vaccinated and members of the public do need to maintain at least 6 feet physical distance in SSA worksites. 

Updated Signage - Daily Self-Screening (FAQ #10)

Employees who are diagnosed with COVID-19 or who are in close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19, must remain out of the office for 10 days.  The updated daily screening criteria and new signage will be posted at the entrances to SSA facilities.

Telework and Laptops (FAQ #14)                                                          

Employees approved for telework should take home their laptops each day to be prepared for possible quarantines, isolation, or failed self-screening.  Because we are sharing the agency safety protocols in advance, employees approved for telework will not be granted weather and safety leave (WSL) if they are unprepared to telework.  Under Federal leave regulations, agencies may grant WSL only to employees who are participating in a telework program if a safety condition preventing work at the official duty station could not reasonably be anticipated.  Employees are responsible for the proper care, use, and security (both equipment and data) of their laptop.  Please see the Annual Personnel Reminders, Section 1.4, Use of Government Property, Portable Computing Devices.

The COVID-19 Vaccination Status Portal remains open for you to continue to enter updates to your vaccination status.  We encourage all employees to receive booster shots and to include the booster shot record in the Vaccination Status Portal.  You can find more information about booster shots here.  The agency provides up to 4 hours of administrative leave for employees to receive a booster.

Your manager will be meeting with you soon, and you may direct any questions to your manager at that time.  Please be patient as this is new information for all of us, including your managers. 

Thank you for your commitment to our critical public service mission.

25 Months In Club Fed For Former Field Office Employee

     From a press release:

Sean Okrzesik, age 34, of Syracuse, was sentenced today to serve 25-months in federal prison on charges of aggravated identity theft and theft of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. ... Okrzesik’s conduct occurred while he was employed in the Syracuse District Office of the Social Security Administration (SSA). ...

Okrzesik admitted that from February of 2020 through February of 2021, he opened bank accounts using the names and Social Security numbers of various SSI beneficiaries or their representative payees.  Okrzesik also admitted that once these accounts had been created, he would divert SSI benefit payments intended for these beneficiaries into the accounts, which he then used to pay personal expenses including the purchase of video gaming equipment, a custom suit, jewelry, airline tickets to the Caribbean, and online gambling.  The total amount of SSI benefits stolen by Okrzesik was $103,798.77. ...

Michael Astrue Has Lots Of Criticism For Democrats And Unions

      From an interview on Federal News Network with former Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue:

... The sense that I generally had was, [Andrew Saul was] trying to quiet things down. There was no successor between our time and there was an acting, long-term acting who quite frankly, did a brutal job. And pretty much every significant service metric went backwards dramatically. I mean, we spent six years driving down the hearing backlog, which was considered a national scandal and was on CBS Evening News and all that kind of stuff. And we took it down very significantly. And then under Carolyn Colvin, it went back up faster than it went down. And a lot of the other significant measures of service in the public deteriorated very rapidly. So I think my sense of what Andrew was trying to do, was to try to stabilize the agency, at a time when they didn’t have a lot of money, wasn’t getting a lot of attention from the White House or the Congress, and just trying to get some sense of normalcy back to the agency. And that’s kind of my sense of what they were trying to do. ... 

Well, I think what’s disappointing is just this sense of neglect. You know, it’s been 14, 15 months now that they’ve had the time to decide what they wanted to do at Social Security [about a new Commissioner]. And they haven’t made a decision. And I think that demoralizing for the agency, it tends to freeze decision making. I think it’s hard to justify. You look at sort of how positions are filled in other agencies, and you say, well, how come not at Social Security, is it just not as important? It’s frustrating. And I agree with you, I believe that the acting commissioner is up any day. And there’s been no announcement on that. The concern is that they’re just going to do nothing. And although violation of the vacancy act often doesn’t bring the agency to its knees, it’s demoralizing for employees, it invalidates certain types of actions, or keeps the commissioner from doing certain types of things, and creates enormous uncertainty. And the last thing that the agency needs, with underfunding and everything else that’s going on is uncertainty. So it would be a very helpful thing for improving service delivery for the White House to decide what direction doesn’t want to go at Social Security and try to find the very best person that they can to run the agency. ...

[T]here’s a history and yet again, both parties, but particularly with the Democrats of nominating candidates [for Commissioner], without any management experience whatsoever, and to get it into an agency where you have 60,000 to 70,000 employees to manage, and you’ve got enormous budgetary issues, you’ve got workloads going through the roof, you have antiquated technology, you have lots and lots of problems. It is really almost unfair to throw someone in who’s managing people for the first time and whose background is policy because they don’t get to do policy. But they got to do a lot of management of a very complex organization. And it’s a tough one to learn on the job. ...

[Interviewer]: And how did you find dealing with the major unions, there, the AFGE councils?

Michael Astrue: Impossible. I mean, they’ve been confrontational since the ’60s, and not really, in my opinion, interested in improving service to the public. They’re interested in expanding the number of employees and that type of thing. And I found them excessively confrontational, dishonest, really, in reporting what was being said and done in the agency, and really very determined not to cooperate in a Republican administration. Now in Democratic administrations, they have what’s called partnership, and at Social Security, White Houses have pretty much interpreted that almost as co-management, which makes it very difficult to make change, and very difficult to improve service, which is why, under Carolyn Colvin, for instance, service went backwards in every conceivable way, because I don’t think she had division but she also had her hands tied by the union. And you worry in this administration, that it’s going to be back to the same thing where you can’t make the changes that you need to improve the quality of work unless the union approves them. ...

As I've Said, Few Covid Disability Claims So Far

     From a Washington Post article on Covid disability claims:

... The Social Security Administration said it has received about 23,000 disability applications since the beginning of the pandemic that include a mention of covid in some way — less than 1 percent of all annual claims, it said. ...