[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 94 (Wednesday, July 19, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          TRIBUTE TO ONONDAGA COUNTY EMPLOYEE DEBORAH LIDDIARD

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES T. WALSH

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 18, 2000

  Mr. WALSH. Mr. Speaker, according to a recent audit by the Office of 
the Inspector General, jail and prison inmates across the United States 
illegally collected nearly $20 million in Social Security and 
Supplemental Income payments in 1997. Not only are such payments to 
inmates unnecessary, they are illegal; and the Social Security 
Administration has been asking jail administrators across the nation to 
help alert its personnel of new prisoners in an efficient and effective 
manner in order to halt such payments.
  In the County of Onondaga, New York, one employee of the County's 
Information Technology Department, Ms. Deborah Liddiard, developed and 
wrote a computer program that allows the Social Security Administration 
access to the names of prisoners in the County's facilities in a form 
that is immediately comparable to the Administration's existing 
records. Ms. Liddiard's program is so efficient and precise that the 
Social Security Administration has honored her and is using her work as 
a model for jail administrators across the nation.
  I use this opportunity to commend Ms. Liddiard for her work on behalf 
of all United States taxpayers who have benefitted from her expertise 
and dedication. May all municipalities with jail and prison facilities 
expedite their compliance with this request, using Ms. Liddiard's work 
as a model in order to significantly reduce these inappropriate 
payments.
  Twenty million dollars in savings is quite significant. 
Congratulations and thank you, Ms. Liddiard.

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