Going After Those Greedy Poor People

      From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: 

The Trump Administration is preparing to propose a rule to cut Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits and strip eligibility for hundreds of thousands of low-income older people and severely disabled adults and children.

Under the rule, nearly 400,000 SSI beneficiaries living with family or friends experiencing their own financial struggles likely would have their benefits cut — typically by hundreds of dollars per month — or lose eligibility altogether. …

Currently, very low-income disabled or older people who receive SSI can have their benefits reduced by up to one-third (about $300 a month) if they receive “in-kind support and maintenance,” including a place to stay. Similarly, SSI recipients can have their benefits reduced based on the income of their parents (if they are under 18) or spouse, under the assumption that they will contribute to an SSI beneficiary’s living expenses. However, these reductions don’t apply to beneficiaries who live in a household that receives “public assistance,” including food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). That’s because households financially precarious enough to qualify for those benefits can’t afford to financially support SSI recipients. These rules help families support their elderly or disabled relatives, including by allowing them to live in their homes, reducing the likelihood that they experience homelessness or need institutional care. …

Under the anticipated Trump Administration proposal, it’s expected that receiving food assistance from SNAP would no longer be enough to qualify a family as a “public assistance household.” …

Smiles All Around

      Social Security’s Commissioner recently visited an agency field office in Staten Island, NY. The Commissioner talked about this visit on a new appearance on Fox News.

Already A Political Ad

Rerouting Calls To Distant Field Offices Doesn't Help Unless You View Providing Service As Only A PR Problem

     From National Public Radio (which is still a thing):

Phone calls to local Social Security offices are currently being rerouted to other field offices — often to staff who don't have jurisdiction over the caller's case, employees say.

Disability advocates and experts warn this is making it harder for people to get help. ...

In a statement to NPR, a spokesperson for the agency said that "the goal of the phone sharing system is to enhance customer service by reducing wait times and addressing customer needs at the first point of contact. ... 

But Angela Digeronimo, a claims specialist in Woodbridge, N.J., and president of a union that represents employees at 25 offices in the state, told NPR this new system creates a "hit or miss" situation for people calling in to their local office.

Digeronimo said the intention of this change "may have been to not have callers waiting," which is a good thing. But in practice, she said, it delays getting an issue sorted if a caller is rerouted to a local office that can't actually fix their problem.

"If it's someone else's office, the jurisdiction is someone else's," she said. "You can't take action on it because your office does not have the ability to clear that claim. You have to refer it over to the servicing office, which is what the member of the public thought they were doing. So, it gets a little bit cumbersome." ...

 

“Big Balls” Carjacked

      From the Washington Post:

A protégé of Elon Musk and former DOGE staffer was injured in an attempted carjacking early Sunday morning in D.C., two people familiar with the incident said, in an attack that captured the attention of President Donald Trump and reinspired his threats to take over the nation’s capital.
 …

Billionaire Elon Musk, who helmed DOGE, wrote on X that a DOGE “team member” was attacked and called to federalize D.C. The two people familiar with the incident identified the victim as Edward Coristine [who worked at Social Security] who is also known by the nickname “Big Balls.” …

Can We Ever Step Back From This?

      Commissioner Bisignano has replied to the recent letter sent to him by Senator Warren. As you might guess Bisignano’s letter bristles with vicious partisanship. Sure, Warren’s letter was accusatory but public servants are not allowed to respond by escalating the situation. At least they weren’t until this Administration. Nothing like this would have been imaginable at any other time in the 90 year history of the Social Security Administration or any other agency.

BLS And SSA

 

    You’ve probably heard that the President has fired the Director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) after receiving a disappointing report from BLS on job growth in the U.S. He claimed that the Director had “rigged” the report to hurt him. There is now clear reason to fear that future job growth reports will be manipulated or outright falsified to please the President. Job growth is certainly important to Social Security. The more jobs, the more FICA money coming in to the Trust Funds. However, statistical reports on job growth themselves aren’t important to recipients of Social Security benefits. However, other statistics generated by BLS are — the cost of living numbers. The President has claimed that the Trump tariffs won’t increase inflation. Will BLS now be willing to issue reports showing a significant increase in the cost of living? The President would probably be more upset at significant increases in the cost of living than with disappointing job growth numbers. Will he insist that the books be cooked to show low inflation even if that’s not what’s happening? If he does, Social Security’s Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) will cheat Social Security recipients. That wouldn’t be popular.  So, what’s happened at BLS is pretty important to Social Security. Keep an eye on it.

Taking An Early Victory Lap

      Commissioner Bisignano was on Fox Business channel this week talking about all his accomplishments at Social Security.