House CR Proposal Would Cut Social Security Funding But Government Shutdown Looms — What A Mess

      Social Security and other federal agencies are operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) allowing them to spend money at the same rate as during the prior fiscal year. The current CR expires on March 15.

     Republicans in the House of Representatives have released their version of a new full year CR. It gives the Social Security Administration $14.2 billion for operations, which is down by about $100 million from the prior FY. Of course, this is effectively a greater cut when inflation is considered. That bill's chances in the House are uncertain.

     However, no appropriations bill can pass the Senate without Democratic votes or ending the filibuster. The price for Democratic support in the Senate is an end to the DOGE reign of terror, which many Republican Senators might also want, even though they won't say it publicly. A government shutdown looks inevitable and it could be a long one. I don't know about the President or Republicans in Congress but this is a fight to the death for Democrats.

    Remember that while most Social Security employees are deemed essential and will stay on the job, eventually the pay checks stop in a very long shutdown. You can't get pay for the time period after the shutdown begins until some sort of funding bill is passed. Federal employees will have to figure out when that will occur.

     Hovering over this is the claim of the President that he is under no obligation to spend appropriated funds — recission. This is almost certainly unconstitutional but that’s not stopping him at the moment. It’s not clear that he will obey the Supreme Court when they finally tell him explicitly to knock it off as I expect.

How Lee Dudek Became Acting Commissioner

      Here’s an extraordinary account of what led up to Michelle King’s firing as Acting Commissioner of Social Security and Lee Dudek’s elevation from the then Acting Chief of Staff, Tiffany Flick.

This Is Insanity

      From the Citizens’ Voice in Pennsylvania:

The labor union leader for employees at the Social Security Administration Data Operations Center in Plains Twp. said she can’t understand how the vital facility ended up on a government sales list earlier this week.

The facility is the lone one in the country that does what it does, said Barri Sue Bryant, head of the local American Federation of Government Employees, who represents more than 1,000 workers there.

“We are the only one left. We are necessary,” Bryant said. “I don’t think much thought went into that list at all.”

Earlier this week, the General Services Administration identified the local Social Security facility as one of 433 “non-core assets” the government wants to sell. By the next day, the list was removed from the agency’s website, replaced by a “coming soon” message. …

Bryant said the Social Security call center — which employs more than 1,100 people — does vital work.’

Between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31, the center handled 1.23 million customer service calls to help people with their Social Security benefits, she said.

During that time, the staff responded to 140,000 emails, processed over 84,000 retirement claims and processed more than 4,000 disability claims, Bryant said. ..

 

Emergency Order Sought

      From the Associated Press:

A group of labor unions are asking a federal court for an emergency order to stop Elon Musk ‘s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the sensitive Social Security data of millions of Americans.

The motion for emergency relief was filed late Friday in federal court in Maryland by the legal services group Democracy Forward against the Social Security Administration and its acting commissioner, Leland Dudek. The unions want the court to block DOGE’s access to the vast troves of personal data held by the agency.

What Could Go Wrong?

      From ABC News:

The Department of Government Efficiency is sifting through $1.6 trillion worth of Social Security payments -- records that include a person's name, birth date and how much they earn -- in an anti-fraud effort that has advocates worried the Trump administration could start denying payments to vulnerable older Americans.

Details on the effort were confirmed in a recent letter to Congress by acting Social Security Administrator Lee Dudek and by several sources familiar with the project.

In addition to combing through sensitive data, DOGE staffers also have been inquiring about the Social Security Administration'stelephone service, sources told ABC News, which a significant portion of beneficiaries use to file initial claims. DOGE's inquiries about the telephone service have raised concerns that it may be planning either to replace the telephone service with private call centers or eliminate it as an option for filing claims, sources said. …

Going Back To 100% Overpayment Withholding

      I warned this might happen. From Social Security’s blog:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced it will increase the default overpayment withholding rate for Social Security beneficiaries to 100 percent of a person’s monthly benefit. The Office of the Chief Actuary estimates this change will result in an increase in overpayment recoveries (i.e., a program savings) of about $7 billion in the next decade. …

As of March 27, the agency will begin mailing notices about the new 100 percent withholding rate, rather than the recent adjustment of just 10 percent. The withholding rate change applies to new overpayments related to Social Security benefits. The withholding rate for current beneficiaries with an overpayment before March 27 will not change and no action is required. The withholding rate for Supplemental Security Income overpayments remains 10 percent. …

     They announced this late on a Friday afternoon.  I wonder why.

     O’Malley’s change should have been placed in the regs where it wouldn’t be so easily reversed.

Maine Enumeration At Birth Mess May Not Be So Easy To Fix

     A former federal contracting officer writes that correcting the mess created by cancelling Social Security's enumeration at birth contract with Maine (and perhaps other states) may not be so easy. As he writes, "One thing drilled into the heads of contract specialist and contracting officer by their lawyers is that there 'ain’t breathing no life into a dead contract. Dead is Dead.'” Starting all over again on a federal contract isn't something done quickly.

Dudek Takes The Fall

 

Statement from Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner: Correcting Recent Decision Impacting People of Maine 

“I recently directed Social Security employees to end two contracts which affected the good people of the state of Maine. The two contracts are Enumeration at Birth (EAB), which helps new parents quickly request a Social Security number and card for their newborn before leaving the hospital, and Electronic Death Registry (EDR) which shares recorded deaths with Social Security. 

In retrospect, I realize that ending these contracts created an undue burden on the people of Maine, which was not the intent. For that, I apologize and have directed that both contracts be immediately reinstated. EAB and EDR continue in place for every state and were not affected.

As a leader, I will admit my mistakes and make them right.”