Social Security News

Dec 1, 2024

FY 2024 DDS Allowance Rate

From a recent release from Social Security:

Nov 30, 2024

How Much Should We Be Worried?

Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times lays out all the ways that the incoming Trump Administration could hurt Social Security. The prospects are scary.

Nov 29, 2024

Four At SSA Receive Presidential Rank Awards

The Presidential Rank Awards are out. These four SSAers won awards:

Distinguished Executive (SES)

Rose Mary Buehler

Meritorious Executive (SES)

Thomas J. Fellona
Jose J. Lopez
Lydia C. Marshall

O'Malley's Tenure As Commissioner

From a piece in Government Executive about Martin O'Malley's too brief tenure as Commissioner of Social Security:

Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley on Wednesday described his nearly a year in charge of the embattled agency responsible for administering Americans’ retirement and disability benefits as one of the “greatest honors” of his career in government and politics. ..
O’Malley told Government Executive on Wednesday that he was “enormously proud” of the agency’s beleaguered workforce, which was able to find significant customer service improvements despite operating at a 50-year staffing low and serving the most beneficiaries in history. ...
[T]he public’s preference for telephonic and video disability hearings–with 90% of new requests being through those avenues–has made it easier to optimize administrative law judges’ workloads regardless of geographic location. ...
Jim Borland, the agency’s assistant deputy commissioner for analytics, review and oversight, said he will be retiring after a 40-year career in the federal government next month, and that this final year was “the most fun” he’s had at work in those four decades. ...