Follow Me On Bluesky

    I have been posting on Twitter, now "X", for some times. Unfortunately, "X" has become a cesspool. I don't want to keep posting on "X." Please follow me on my Bluesky account -- @socsecnews.bsky.social instead. I'll keep cross posting on "X" for a while but "X" ain't for me any more and, increasingly, it's not a place where my readers feel comfortable either. Bluesky is a sane platform which is not run by a nutjob. It's not full of crazy people. I'm happy to leave "X" for the wingnuts.

    I post some things on Bluesky that I don't post here. Often I post items on Bluesky before I post them here. Bluesky may be worth your time, especially if you're disgusted with what Twitter has become.

I Think He’s Wrong But What Do I Know?

      From Newsweek:

Former Social Security Commissioner Martin O'Malley is warning that benefit payments could soon be delayed for millions of Americans, citing deep staffing cuts and internal chaos at the Social Security Administration (SSA) under the Trump administration.

Speaking at a public forum in Long Island on Monday, O'Malley said he believes an interruption in payments could be imminent.

"I truly believe there's going to be some interruption of benefits for some period of time, and I believe that will probably happen in the very near future," O'Malley said, according to Long Island Press. "I've never hoped I was wrong so much in my life." …

Back To Seizing Social Security Benefits To Pay Student Loans

      From MarketWatch:

The Trump administration is turning on some of the harshest consequences for falling behind on student loans.  

Starting on May 5, the government is restarting debt collection on defaulted student loans. As part of these efforts, the Department of Education is restarting the process that allows for borrowers who are in default on their student loans to have their Social Security benefits and tax refunds offset to repay the debt, the U.S. Education Department announced Monday. Early this summer, the government will also begin garnishing wages to repay defaulted student loans.  

This will mark the first time in five years — since the collections system was paused as part of the pandemic-era freeze on student-loan payments — that borrowers have faced these consequences for defaulting on student loans (defined as not making a payment on the debt in more than 270 days). …

     You might think that few Social Security beneficiaries have student loans but you’d be wrong. Many do and the limited income of those who do makes it difficult for them to make student loan payments.  Remember that those who are disabled are eligible for relief from their loans — but most don’t know this.

Stretched “Beyond All Recognition”

       From Government Executive:

Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek this month instructed staff to prepare to convert wide swathes of his agency to the revamped Schedule F, a move that experts say would stretch even the Trump administration’s wide definition of “policy-related” jobs “beyond all recognition.”

The Trump administration last week began moving forward with implementation of the newly-renamed Schedule Policy/Career, a new job classification within the federal government’s excepted service for career federal workers in “policy-related” positions. Employees reclassified into the new job category would be stripped of their civil service protections.

In an April 7 internal email obtained by Government Executive, the acting commissioner took a sweeping view of the role of policy at the independent agency.

“For SSA, policy-making positions encompass a wide range of responsibilities, including shaping regulations and sub-regulatory guidance, overseeing administrative law, managing contracts, guiding information resources management, and integrating research into decision-making,” he wrote. “Individuals in these roles often develop and implement both formal rules and informal policies, interpret and apply laws, and influence how SSA operates.” …

Employee groups and Social Security experts were taken aback by Dudek’s maximalist approach to implementing the new job category. Reclassifying the Office of Hearing Operations entirely into Schedule Policy/Career would impact upwards of 20% of the workforce represented by the American Federation of Government Employees, including jobs that start at as little as $40,000 per year.

“If this email constitutes SSA’s full decision, then the agency has contorted the term ‘policy-influencing’ beyond all recognition,” said Rich Couture, a spokesman for AFGE’s Social Security Administration general committee. “AFGE bargaining unit employees at SSA dutifully apply policies and procedures, established by agency leadership, in the performance of their duties for the American people every day. The employees are not policy-makers . . . The agency cannot take a chainsaw to necessary civil service protections to thousands of SSA workers in an attempt to solve a problem Employee groups and Social Security experts were taken aback by Dudek’s maximalist approach to implementing the new job category. Reclassifying the Office of Hearing Operations entirely into Schedule Policy/Career would impact upwards of 20% of the workforce represented by the American Federation of Government Employees, including jobs that start at as little as $40,000 per year.

“If this email constitutes SSA’s full decision, then the agency has contorted the term ‘policy-influencing’ beyond all recognition,” said Rich Couture, a spokesman for AFGE’s Social Security Administration general committee. “AFGE bargaining unit employees at SSA dutifully apply policies and procedures, established by agency leadership, in the performance of their duties for the American people every day. The employees are not policy-makers . . . The agency cannot take a chainsaw to necessary civil service protections to thousands of SSA workers in an attempt to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.” doesn’t exist.” 

     Sorry about the weird typography. Some weirdness in the original that I can’t undo. 

A New “Fork In The Road”

      I have seen multiple reports that some Social Security employees have received a new “fork in the road” email offering incentives for them to resign and an implied threat of firing if they don’t take the offer. I have no idea how many agency employees received these messages. It’s obvious that they want to reduce staffing but don’t want to be seen as firing people.

Is Social Security In Compliance With This?

 42 U.S.C. §405(t) In any case in which an individual visits a field office of the Social Security Administration and represents during the visit to an officer or employee of the Social Security Administration in the office that the individual’s visit is occasioned by—

(1) the receipt of a notice from the Social Security Administration indicating a time limit for response by the individual, or

(2) the theft, loss, or nonreceipt of a benefit payment under this title,

the Commissioner of Social Security shall ensure that the individual is granted a face-to-face interview at the office with an officer or employee of the Social Security Administration before the close of business on the day of the visit.

NDAs?

      I’ve been wondering about something. Maybe someone can answer my question anonymously. Have Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) figured into any of the recent departures of high level personnel at Social Security? I don’t know that NDAs have figured into federal personnel policies in the past but they’re something that the current President has used extensively in his businesses. There are reports that NDAs were used for White House staff during the first Trump Administration although those were apparently signed before hiring.  I notice that the recently fired Acting Commissioner and the Regional Commissioners who left under circumstances we don’t understand have not spoken publicly about their departures from the agency or their views about what’s going on now at Social Security. Not a one. I’d think some of them would like to talk with the media but none has. NDAs could explain this but maybe it’s just reticence or fear of becoming the target of Trump’s crazy supporters. I have no idea whether federal funds could be used for NDAs.

     Anybody know anything about this that you can share, at least anonymously?

Happy Easter