Bisignano Spied On Employees At JP Morgan Chase

      From the Wall Street Journal:

Frank Bisignano, the head of the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration, sits atop two government organizations that store vast reams of sensitive financial data about every taxpayer.

But when he was the co-chief operating officer at JPMorgan Chase, he spied on fellow executives—using his authority over the security department and position to access sensitive information and internal communications, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke with the Wall Street Journal.

After years of complaints about his behavior, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told Bisignano he would support him finding a job elsewhere. Once he left, investigators from the legal department found digital traces of the spying activity, including records that showed email access, and the bank instituted new rules requiring approval from the legal department

Courtney Forrest, an attorney for Bisignano, denied that that he never spied on co-workers. She said he “never directed anyone to look through any employee’s or executive’s communications or engaged in any form of surveillance.”…

     “Support him finding a job elsewhere.” Is that something like getting fired? 

     Update: An attorney for Bisignano says that he  “never directed anyone to look through any employee’s or executive’s communications.”

Multiply This Sort Of Thing By 100,000 And Then You’ll Know Why Service Is Actually Declining At SSA

      From WUSA:

For 59-year-old Mary Gates, returning to work was supposed to be a step toward greater independence.

Instead, when her work-study job ended, Gates said her Social Security disability benefits stopped too. She spent months trying to get them restored, falling behind on bills before Legal Aid D.C. helped resolve her case. …

Gates told WUSA9 she took a work-study job at the University of the District of Columbia. When the program ended in March, she said her benefits also stopped.

"In the process of it, they also ended my Social Security," Gates said.

She said she repeatedly contacted the Social Security Administration but struggled to get answers. …

"I had gotten behind on all my bills," Gates said. "They're telling me, 'Well, we're still working on it.'"

Without the monthly payments she depended on, Gates said she feared she could lose her home before the issue was resolved. …

     When I say multiply by 100,000 I’m not just talking about disability claimants who return to work and then stop. I’m talking about all the myriad ways that things may get out of whack or need to be updated. They’re not tracking the delays in doing these sort of things or at least they’re not releasing the numbers if they do. And you may have to multiply by a lot more than 100,000 to get the full scope of the problem. It’s “fast-tracking”, i.e., doing the easiest work first, on a massive scale, leaving cases that involve even a little complexity unworked on for months and months. It’s maddening both for the claimants and the employees.

COLA Projection

      The Senior Citizens League is estimating that the 2027 Social Security COLA will be 3.8%. That’s one percent higher than last year.

Is It Sensible To Make It More Complicated For Someone To Pay You Money They Owe?

       From Social Security:

Social Security Transitions to Electronic Remittances - What You Need to Know

Date: Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Dear Colleague,

We are writing to share important information about how individuals can repay money they owe to the Social Security Administration (SSA). In support of Executive Order 14247, Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account, we are expanding secure digital payment options to make repayment faster, safer, and more convenient.

We are updating our notices to include electronic repayment options for individuals and will no longer ask individuals to mail checks or credit card forms to repay their debts. Mailed payments can be lost, delayed, or intercepted, which may put personal and financial information at risk. By highlighting secure electronic payment methods, we aim to reduce delays and provide a safer, more reliable repayment experience.

Individuals can make secure online payments through Pay.gov using their Remittance ID. They may also use their bank or credit union’s online bill payment service by selecting “Social Security Administration” as the payee and entering their Remittance ID in the account number field.

Individuals who cannot use the online options can call the Debt Management Unit at 1-855-807-8807, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. local time.

For more information, visit the Repay Overpaid Benefits page.

Please share this information with your members, colleagues, affiliates, and other interested parties.

Sincerely,

Nick Perrine

Chief Communications Officer

New Caseload Analysis Report

      The Social Security Administration has released its Caseload Analysis Report for its hearing functions. It shows a declining number of ALJs and an increasing backlog despite throwing a ton of overtime at the problem.

NYT On Service At SSA

      The New York Times has a new piece out about service at Social Security. There’s nothing much new in it. The sad thing is that they’ve been bamboozled into believing service is improving at the agency.

Typical Politicians

      From CBS News:

 A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill on Tuesday designed to shore up Social Security's finances in the coming decades and prevent future benefit cuts for the 70 million Americans who rely on the program. …

The legislation, called the Promise Act, would not itself raise taxes, reduce benefits or change eligibility. Instead, it would direct the bipartisan, seven-member Social Security Advisory Board to draft a bill, informed by public input, to keep the program's trust funds solvent for at least the next 50 years. …

Any proposal developed by the advisory board would be introduced in the House and Senate by congressional leaders before being considered by committees, which could hold hearings and revise the legislation. To become law, it would need a three-fifths vote in the Senate and a majority vote in the House.

The Promise Act's additional sponsors include Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana; Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia; Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina; and Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine. …

     This is ridiculous. No panel of experts will come up with a bill that will draw widespread support. There’s no clever way of solving the problem that will hurt no one. You either raise taxes, which no Republican will support, cut benefits which no Democrat or Republican will support or you pay benefits out of general revenues, which no one will support as a long term solution but may have to accept. This bill is nothing more than pretending you’re doing something when you’re doing nothing. 

     A bill that combines tax increases and benefits cuts is a trap for Democrats. Republicans would probably provide a few votes to get such a bill passed and then campaign against Democrats for cutting benefits and raising taxes while laughing up their sleeves at the naïveté of the Democrats. Better for Democrats to wait until they control the White House and both houses of Congress so they can solve the problem with tax increases alone. Of course the filibuster stands in the way of doing this but that’s got to go at some point.

Who Is Paying For These?

      From NOTUS:

Morale at the Social Security Administration — which is at a 59-year staffing low due to the Trump administration’s sweeping workforce cuts — is poor.

To fix it, SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano has twice sent staff packages of chocolate-covered pretzels. They’re from his daughter’s company, Pretzables, emblazoned with Pretzable’s branding, website and phone number, as well as a line thanking employees for their work.

The pretzels, staff tell NOTUS, have not addressed the underlying morale issue. (“It’s tone-deaf,” one SSA field office employee said.) They have, however, raised even more questions around Bisignano’s leadership — specifically around the ethics of sending staff pretzels from his daughter’s company.

     It’s hard to imagine anyone thinking it would be OK for the government to pay for these pretzels but this is the Trump Administration and anything goes so I’d like to hear the question answered.