Let’s keep an eye on how quickly Social Security offices display Trump’s portrait. It will be something of an indicator of how efficiently or inefficiently the Trump II White House is functioning.
My partner and I continue posting on our firm's separate blog directed at a different audience -- For The Frustrated Social Security Disability Claimant. Take a look at these recent posts on that blog:
From Emergency Message EM-25009 issued last Friday:
This emergency message (EM) provides the Disability Determination Services (DDS) and federal disability adjudicating components with disability case processing guidance for Disability Examiner Decisional Authority (DEDA). DEDA will temporarily allow qualifying disability examiners to make fully favorable disability determinations in adult cases based on physical impairments alone without medical review by medical consultants (MC), but with the flexibility to consult with an MC at the disability examiner’s discretion.
These temporary instructions apply to initial level claims, including initial-level claims pending at the DDS and federal disability case processing sites (DPB, DPU, etc.).
The Social Security Administration (SSA) faces unprecedented initial disability claims backlogs surpassing the 1.12 million case mark, resulting in high average processing times and claimant wait times. A contributing factor to the increase in average processing time is the general requirement that qualified physicians, psychiatrists, and psychologists (referred to in our policy as medical consultants (MC) and psychological consultants (PC)) complete the medical review of all initial level disability determinations combined with an insufficient number of MCs and PCs. See Section 221(h).….
If this issue comes up in your confirmation hearing, Frank Bisignano, what say you?
Social Security’s organization chart now shows Michelle King as Acting Commissioner.
From the New York Times:
The U.S. government will no longer recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States to immigrants who lack legal status, one of 10 immigration-related executive orders President-elect Donald Trump plans to sign Monday, an incoming administration official told reporters.
I can think of no immediate way to implement this other than by refusing to issue Social Security numbers to the children of those who lack legal status. Of course, Trump and his aides may not have thought that far ahead.
This is blatantly unconstitutional.
Punchbowl News has obtained a list of options prepared by Republicans for a major budget reconciliation bill this year. There's nothing in it for Title II of the Social Security Act but plenty for Title XVI -- SSI. Here they are:
- ... Under current law, SSA is not required to verify financial accounts of SSI applicants and recipients who allege ownership of resources valued at less than $400. A recent SSA-OIG report concluded that this practice led to incorrect resource determinations, resulting in 198,960 recipients receiving $718 million in SSI payments for which they were not eligible. This policy option would lower the $400 resource-level tolerance to $0 and require SSA to validate the financial accounts of all SSI applicants and recipients, strengthening program integrity and reducing improper payments. ...
- Children under 18 may qualify for SSI if they are disabled and their household has limited income and resources. This policy option would condition SSI benefits for qualified children under the age of 18 on school attendance. ...
- SSI, unlike other welfare programs, does not pay benefits on a sliding scale. Recognizing household economies of scale, this reform (based on a CBO budget option) converts SSI payments to a sliding scale. The sliding scale formula would be (as per the CBO budget option and proposed by the 1995 National Commission on Childhood Disability): SSI federal payment rate multiplied by the number of child recipients in the family and raised to the power of 0. ...
- Deny SSI to Those with Felony Arrest Warrants -- In addition to being an important program integrity measure, this policy option would help restore the original intent of PRWORA to discontinue SSI benefits for individuals who are ‘‘the subject of an arrest warrant’’ compared to the previous language of ‘‘fleeing to avoid’’ arrest. It would also have the added benefit of helping law enforcement find criminals who have been evading the law. ...
