Countdown to shutdown:

Social Security Administration

  • Employees at TSA, CBP and Bureau of Prisons will no longer be able to work overtime. SSA offers its employees a new round of early retirements to deal with budget shortfalls. AFGE continues to press Congress, White House to stop sequestration.

    March 14, 2013
  • The Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration — two of the largest federal agencies with very public missions — are taking divergent paths when it comes to dealing with the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration. IRS says it is planning for five to seven furloughs days, while SSA says it hopes to forego furloughs through alternative savings.

    February 28, 2013
  • AFGE, AFSCME rally against the potential cuts from sequestration as part of their week-long legislative conference. Union members are meeting with lawmakers to ensure they understand the broader impact cuts due to sequestration would have on the nation and the economy.

    February 13, 2013
  • Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue and Linda Cureton of NASA talks about their upcoming retirements. Register employee benefit consultant Ed Zurndorfer explains what feds can expect from possible furloughs. White House Historical Association Vice President of Research talks about possible renovations at the White House.

    February 08, 2013
  • Kal Stein, president and CEO of EarthShare, talks about his company's new role as the manager of the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capitol Area. Attorney John Mahoney weighs in on a recent ruling by the EEOC. Gen. Charles Wald of Deloitte talks about the ever-changing aerospace markets. Anne-Marie Fennell of GAO discusses Alaska Native Corporations. Ed Moscatelli discusses how the Army has eliminated 8,000 vehicles.

    January 15, 2013
  • Satisfaction with federal e-government sites remained high throughout most of 2012, according to a quarterly report from ForeSee and the American Customer Satisfaction Index. On a 100-point scale, customer satisfaction with federal websites now sits at 75.3. That's actually down slightly from last quarter, which had set an all-time high, according to the latest report.

    October 22, 2012
  • The 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits that more than 56 million Social Security beneficiaries, according to the Social Security Administration. Social Security recipients received a 3.6 percent increase in benefits this year after getting none the previous two years.

    October 16, 2012
  • The Social Security Administration will begin closing its offices around the country 30 minutes early starting Nov. 19. A spokeswoman said "significantly less funding" than the agency requested forced it to adopt this tactic.

    October 04, 2012
  • Bill Bransford will host a round table discussion of how agencies are currently training their managers and employees. September 7, 2012

    September 07, 2012
  • Acting Director Jeff Zients wrote in a blog post today that agencies have met half of President Obama's goal to save $8 billion by the end of 2013.

    September 04, 2012
  • Today’s guests on the Federal News Countdown: – Alan Balutis, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group Alan Balutis’ stories #3 HR pros offer bleak assessment of federal managers From Government Executive: One-third of federal human resources…

    August 10, 2012
  • To be eligible, employees must have 20 years of creditable service and be at least 50 years of age, or have at least 25 years of creditable service at any age, including five years of civilian service, according to an SSA email to Federal News Radio.

    August 08, 2012
  • The inspector general for the Social Security Administration estimated the agency is sitting on about $134 million for benefit checks that sit uncashed by recipients for more than a year - money subsequently returned to the agency. But the IG report found most of the recipients who didn't cash their checks are still eligible for the assistance and the SSA could take additional steps to ensure they receive them.

    July 24, 2012
  • Kevin O'Brien, a human resources specialist in the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General, was nominated for leading the organization's telework initiative.

    July 16, 2012
  • Information regarding a person's death is not always correctly transferred between the Social Security Administration's databases, according to a new report from the agency's inspector general. As a result, various agencies may be sending money to dead people or fraudsters.

    July 13, 2012