Thread by @rebeccavallas

The @SenateFinance Cmte is holding a hearing this AM on @SocialSecurity's "customer service" during the pandemic.

This may sound boring, but here's the subtext: SSI applications & awards are at *historic lows* -- and Trump appointees are still running SSA.

So imma live-tweet...

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity Up first is Grace Kim, deputy commissioner for operations at @SocialSecurity.

She's trying to paint a rosy picture, saying "reaching vulnerable communities is our priority."

The data say otherwise.

https://twitter.com/rebeccavallas/status/1363137375698882563?s=20

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity Up next is Kascadare Causeya, Program Manager at Central City Concern in Portland, OR.

He's speaking powerfully about major barriers to access.

Names lack of access to technology as a huge gap, since so much of what SSA has emphasized during the pandemic has been online.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity Mr. Causeya shares that "feelings of hopelessness" among people struggling to access critical benefits are pervasive.

He's sharing multiple client stories of people pushed to depression and substance misuse out of desperation, unable to access SSI and SSDI.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity He points out that there are major access problems that predate the pandemic.

"The current application process is just too complicated," he says.

And amen.

As @mattbc and I often say, you basically need a law degree to access disability benefits.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Next up is Peggy Murphy,
Immediate Past President of the
National Council of Social Security Management Associations.

She's speaking on behalf of Social Security frontline staff and their experience during the pandemic.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc "SSA needs resources. Even with recent investments in IT, SSA continues to rely on 40-year-old computer systems," she says.

"This is the moment when SSA must move into the 21st century -- so we can give the public the service they deserve."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc She adds that it's also imperative to update SSA policies that make it hard to run SSA's programs.

A great example is "in-kind support and maintenance" -- a policy that doesn't just hurt beneficiaries by reducing already meager benefits but is incredibly difficult to administer.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Another example: asset limits -- which don't just prohibit SSI beneficiaries from having even modest emergency savings, but are also incredibly difficult for SSA to administer.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Next up is Tara Dawson McGuinness, Founder of the
New Practice Lab at New America.

"Just because govt structures were built for a different time doesn't mean they can't adapt," she says.

(I'm looking at you, SSA's incredibly-hard-to-navigate disability benefit application....)

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc She shares an example from Michigan "which once had America's longest public benefits program.... at 40 pages long, this form was an inhumane barrier between the people desperately in need of benefits and the state of Michigan."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc One resident, she says, described it as "being left up to fate as to whether you make it through."

"And this was borne out in the data showing how many people got stuck in the process," she adds.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc The end of that Michigan story? Agency leaders & a nonprofit reworked the form so that it can now be completed in 20 minutes + processed by the agency in half the time.

This is *exactly* the conversation we need to be having about SSA's byzantine disability application process.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc "We need to test our forms with real beneficiaries, to see where folks get stuck before we subject millions of people to these forms," she advises.

She calls on SSA to map the user experience end to end to understand why it's so hard to navigate.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc She adds a note of caution on so-called 'modernization': "when you digitize a broken process, you end up with a digital broken process."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc "While policy matters a great deal, it matters very little if it doesn't reach those who need it most when they need it most -- in crisis," she concludes.

PREACH!

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now onto Qs from the Senators on the committee.

First is from Senate Finance Chair Wyden, who asks SSA's Grace Kim what they're doing to address huge problems with people being required to put docs like driver's licenses in the mail.

"We absolutely have to do better," he says.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Grace Kim says the agency has identified 1.2 million people who may be eligible for SSI; that they'll be doing mailers telling folks to apply.

Mailers are a start (though why only now???)... but do nothing to address the immense access barriers this hearing is highlighting.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now up is Sen. Crapo, Ranking Member on the Committee.

"I think most Americans can immediately identify with the fact that the forms and applications are a *real* problem."

Asks how we can "address the restrictiveness of the forms and applications SSA currently uses."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc (Quick aside to say it's ***huge*** to hear bipartisan acknowledgement that we've made it too hard to access SSI and SSDI benefits -- or as Sen. Crapo put it: "too many people can't get through the front door.")

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Grace Kim of SSA agrees with this sentiment, acknowledges the SSI application in particular is *way* too hard to navigate.

Agrees "some of our applications are very very difficult for members of the public who need to access them."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc She adds SSA is looking to "simplify the SSI application to make it easier and more approachable." And then they plan to put it online (since it isn't yet).

This would be a welcome and long-overdue step -- and boy am I interested in hearing more....

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Tara McGuinness jumps in to advise that any new simplified SSI application form should be tested with actual beneficiaries before it gets put into use for millions.

Wild, right??

Sen. Wyden jokes she's "making way too much sense."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now Sen. Stabenow asks Mr. Causeya about the "human toll" of barriers to access to SSA's benefits.

In additions to consequences like homelessness and feelings of hopelessness, he describes immense fear and anxiety about dealing with/lack of trust in the government.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now Sen Menendez describes a constituent who receives SSI and lost a part-time job during the pandemic. That person ended up receiving disaster UI -- and lost their SSI benefits as a result. He asks Grace Kim why the agency hasn't used its regulatory authority to prevent this.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc She says the agency is "talking about this."

Sen. Menendez follows up: "I hope you're doing more than talking... because it was never Congress's intent to provide people this type of relief only to have them lose their SSI."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Sen. Menendez asks Mr. Causeya if his program has sufficient resources to help their clients access disability benefits.

Mr. Causeya says categorically no.

Says the application process is so difficult for his clients to navigate, "it's almost prohibitive."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Sen. Menendez concludes by calling on SSA to streamline the SSI application. Says it's "clearly not working."

The data on who's being left behind bear out how very right he is:

https://twitter.com/rebeccavallas/status/1363139264926670849?s=20

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now up is Sen. Portman, who says his priority in this hearing -- a hearing about access barriers -- isn't how to ensure we're reaching people having a hard time accessing survival benefits, but "protecting taxpayer dollars" (aka fraudwasteabuse).

I'll let this speak for itself.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now up is Sen. Sherrod Brown, chair of the Senate Finance #SocialSecurity subcmte.

Opens by reiterating his call that Trump's Commissioner & Dep. Cmsr--who are still running SSA--resign.

"We need leadership who believes in Social Security, not who have worked to dismantle it."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Sen. Brown expresses significant concern seeing SSI applications and awards at historic lows "during a time when SSI as a means-tested program should be helping more people, not fewer."

Says we must acknowledge "you basically need to have a law degree to apply."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc "Under Commissioner Saul, the SSA has spent a lot of time and regulatory energy making it *harder* to qualify for disability benefits, even after the switchover following the election," Sen. Brown continues.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc "Instead of finding ways to deny disability benefits, I want to see you helping people successfully get the benefits they're eligible for...." Sen. Brown says.

"Will you help shift the focus from denial to assistance, Ms. Kim? Yes or no?"

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Grace Kim says she can't give a yes or no answer. Instead offers some empty-sounding words about simplifying and clarifying the programs.

Sen. Brown responds that he respects her tenure at SSA and doesn't put this all on her, but says "you need to do better."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now Sen. Brown asks, "do you think we would be helped by a national navigator program that helps people access SSI benefits?"

(YES YES YES YES)

Mr. Causeya says unequivocally yes. "Organizations like mine that can help develop the case give an applicant a much better chance."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now Sen. Mark Warner is up, adding his voice to those on the committee with "serious concerns" about historic declines in SSI applications and awards during the pandemic. Asks Grace Kim to talk more about SSA's outreach efforts to "vulnerable communities."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc SSA's Grace Kim says SSA's talking to a group of community-based organizations including legal aid about how to better reach "vulnerable communities."

Let's be clear. It's great that SSA is talking to advocates. But it's Not. A. Substitute. For. Meaningful. Outreach.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc I hope good ideas flow from those conversations--and knowing the advocates group she's talking about, which includes some brilliant folks, I know they will--but it's wild that "we're talking to advocates" is SSA's answer to huge SSI access barriers that long predate the pandemic.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now up, Sen. Hassan.

Opens by noting that "Social Security serves some of our most vulnerable citizens, and we must make sure these programs are accessible."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Sen. Hassan highlights that many #SocialSecurity & SSI beneficiaries still haven't received their Economic Impact Payments.

Calls on SSA to do more and "get as creative as possible" since these are people for whom these relief checks are a lifeline.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now Sen. Hassan coming back to SSA's decades-old legacy IT systems, which she rightly notes impacts not only agency employees but applicants and beneficiaries.

Grace Kim says she can't give an end date for when they'll have phased out legacy systems.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now Sen. Whitehouse, who shares his colleagues' concerns about SSA requiring people to put sensitive documents like driver's licenses and passports in the mail.

Tries but can't get much of an answer on this from SSA's Grace Kim.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Next Sen. Whitehouse asks what SSA can be doing to ensure an application for disability benefits can be submitted online.

Answer: Allow people to apply for SSI online!

This is something advocates have been calling for for ages.

(Currently you can only apply for SSDI online.)

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Now up: Sen. Warren, who goes straight to SSI -- which she calls "the part of Social Security that serves as a lifeline" for people "who otherwise have little to nothing else to live on."

As she notes, SSI "helps keep 8 million older adults and people with disabilities afloat."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc "But the SSI program has been neglected for decades now," Sen. Warren adds.

(That's not hyperbole -- it's literally been decades.)

"And it's not providing beneficiaries with the economic security they need."

She couldn't be more right:
thehill.com/blogs/congress…

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Sen. Warren talks about how she's called for:

- increasing SSI benefits to at least the federal poverty line
- updating SSI's long-outdated income rules & asset limits; and
- ending rules that "force people to choose between their benefits and marrying the person they love"

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc Sen. Warren notes President Biden supports many of these reforms and that she joined 51 other members of Congress, including Sens. Brown & Wyden, in calling for them to be included in the #AmericanFamiliesPlan.

Here's the letter:

https://twitter.com/rebeccavallas/status/1384269123249573899?s=20

#DemolishDisabledPoverty

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc "Congress should make good on the President's promises and strengthen SSI now."

AMEN, @SenWarren!!!!!!

#AmericanFamiliesPlan #DemolishDisabledPoverty

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren Sen. Warren continues: "We need to strengthen SSI. But we also need to make sure people get the help they need applying."

She again highlights the data showing SSI awards & applications are at historic lows--"at a time when the program should be helping more people, not fewer."

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren Sen. Warren concludes by telling her colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee: "For people with disabilities who rely on SSI to get by, these investments in our safety net are long overdue...."
#DemolishDisabledPoverty

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren @SenWarren: "We need to make it easier for people to access the benefits they desperately need -- and rewrite the SSI rules so recipients have a fighting chance at building real economic security for themselves.

"President Biden should do this today."

#DemolishDisabledPoverty

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren (Brief interlude to say THANK YOU, @SenWarren and @SenSherrodBrown for leading the way to ensure the long-overdue SSI improvements getting lifted up in this hearing make it into the #AmericanFamiliesPlan!)

#DemolishDisabledPoverty

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren @SenSherrodBrown *The hearing goes into a brief recess because Senators are being pulled for a vote*

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren @SenSherrodBrown Hearing comes back.

Sen. Wyden asks Mr. Causeya what he wants to see done to improve access to benefits.

His top plea: make the SSI application easier to complete.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren @SenSherrodBrown Sharing experiences representing very low-income clients, Mr. Causeya says, "we have a lot of people who start the application process on their own, and they make errors because they don't understand what Social Security is asking them."

It gets eligible folks denied.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren @SenSherrodBrown Sen. Wyden preparing to close out the hearing. Calls the agency's requirement that people send sensitive docs like passports & driver's licenses through the mail is a "prescription for bedlam."

Asks SSA's Grace Kim for a "detailed plan in the next 2 weeks to end this policy.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren @SenSherrodBrown Next Sen. Wyden brings back up the need for better outreach to potential SSI beneficiaries -- says he wants a report to the Committee on the results of the 1.2 million mailers SSA says it will be sending out in June.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren @SenSherrodBrown Finally, Sen. Wyden brings back up the labyrinthine application forms and process for disability benefits.

Says it "cries out for simplification."

Directs SSA's Grace Kim to have the agency put together a plan for how to make the application easier for disabled applicants.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren @SenSherrodBrown This is a call that's long overdue--and as a former public benefits lawyer who represented people wrongfully denied SSI & SSDI, I am thrilled to finally see (bipartisan!) Congressional concern about how we made it way too hard to access #SocialSecurity disability benefits.

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren @SenSherrodBrown I'm also cheered to see so much Congressional interest not only in increased SSA outreach, but in funding a navigators program to help folks access SSI.

It would be game-changing.

(And would be a terrific human *infrastructure* investment as part of the next recovery package.)

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren @SenSherrodBrown And even though this hearing was focused on improving access to benefits, Sen. Warren got it 100% right: updating SSI's benefit levels & outdated income & asset rules must be a priority for Congress in this moment.

More on this:
tcf.org/content/commen…

#DemolishDisabledPoverty

@SenateFinance @SocialSecurity @mattbc @SenWarren @SenSherrodBrown .... and with that, I'm out.

Thanks for following along!

/fin