[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 16 (Friday, January 26, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1234-S1235]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO JO ANNE BARNHART

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I want to commend someone who represents 
the very best of citizens in public service. I am speaking of Jo Anne 
Barnhart, the Commissioner of Social Security. Unfortunately, her term 
ended last Friday. I say ``unfortunately'' because she has done a 
superb job.
  Jo Anne Barnhart did not need to take this job. She was doing very 
well running her own consulting firm. But she took the job for one 
reason: She wanted to improve the way that the Social Security 
Administration performs its duties. And SSA is a significantly better 
agency when Jo Anne left than when she first came on board.
  That is not all. Many long-term career employees at SSA have said 
that she is the best Social Security Commissioner for whom they have 
worked. And a number of veteran Social Security observers and advocates 
have said the same thing. She has made a remarkable contribution to 
that agency.
  What has Jo Anne accomplished? Everyone knows that the Social 
Security Program provides benefits to workers who have retired. And the 
Social Security Program also provides benefits to the families of 
workers who have died. What is less well known is that Social Security 
provides benefits to workers who become disabled and to the families of 
those workers. This is one of Social Security's major functions.
  Determining the benefits that retirees and survivors get is a 
relatively straightforward process, even where the eligibility rules 
are very detailed. But the same is not true for benefits for disabled 
workers.
  There, SSA has to determine whether the applicant is permanently and 
totally disabled. This determination requires a lot of difficult work. 
For many applicants, the answer is not readily apparent. And the 
applicant can use several layers of appeals, if denied benefits. These 
additional layers add to the time that an applicant may have to wait 
before receiving benefits.
  When Jo Anne took over the agency, it could take as much as 4 years 
for an applicant to be approved for benefits, if the applicant 
succeeded at the last layer of appeal. A disabled worker waiting for a 
decision is not earning any money. This can put enormous pressures on 
the worker and the worker's family.
  My case workers in Montana have heard from some of the applicants who 
have been waiting incredibly long times for a decision. And their 
stories are harrowing. And the same was true for one Montana applicant 
who had to wait 4 years to get his disability benefits and who was kind 
enough to testify before the Finance Committee last year.
  Jo Anne was fully aware of this problem when she took over the 
agency. And she was determined to do something about it.
  The first step was to determine why it took so long for applicants to 
be approved. At her confirmation hearing, Jo Anne indicated that she 
would study this issue immediately. And she and I agreed that she would 
report back to me in 6 months.
  Jo Anne completed that study and briefed me 6 months later, just as 
she had promised. Amazingly, this was the first comprehensive study SSA 
had ever done to determine why it took so long for disability 
applicants to be approved for benefits.
  Jo Anne and her staff put every step involved in the disability 
application process on one chart. When she completed it, that chart was 
25 feet long. Jo Anne deserves great credit for initiating and 
executing this pioneering study.
  The study found that there were two causes of the long waiting times 
for approval of disability benefits, and Jo Anne set out to tackle each 
of them. About half of the delays occurred because of huge backlogs of 
cases. The principal cause of these backlogs is inadequate staffing, 
and the principal cause of inadequate staffing is lack of budgetary 
resources. The other half of the waiting times was due to huge 
inefficiencies in the processing of disability claims.
  Jo Anne responded to these challenges. First, she set out to reduce 
as much of the inefficiency in the disability adjudication process as 
possible.
  She initiated the conversion of the application process from a paper-
driven process to a completely electronic process. And she aggressively 
accelerated this conversion, completing the transformation in record 
time.
  As a result, SSA now has the largest repository of medical evidence 
in the world. And the new system works. Previously, all evidence and 
records used during the adjudication process had to be mailed from one 
SSA office to another and from doctors' offices to SSA offices. This 
was inefficient, time-consuming, and expensive. Now all of this is 
accomplished electronically. Jo Anne deserves great credit for these 
changes.
  And Jo Anne initiated a Disability Service initiative. This was a 
major overhaul of the multiple steps in the disability adjudication 
process. This initiative brought many improvements.
  First, quick decisions are made in cases where the disability is 
obvious. Second, redundant appeal processes were eliminated. Third, 
huge amounts of time were saved for some appeals that would normally go 
to a hearing before an administrative law judge. That is a process that 
can take well over a year to occur. A new type of legal official was 
created in the system. This lawyer is given authority to award benefits 
before the case ever proceeds to a hearing. This dramatically reduces 
the time for the applicant to get benefits. Many other changes were 
made as well.
  All of these changes are being piloted. It is hoped that these new 
processes will greatly increase the efficiency by which disability 
claims are adjudicated. If they do, Jo Anne will have accomplished 
something truly great.
  Jo Anne also initiated action to deal with scarce budgetary 
resources, the second cause of long delays. She provided detailed and 
cogent briefings to the Directors of the Office of Management and 
Budget.
  As a result, the President's budgets have requested a significant 
increase for SSA's administrative costs each year. This occurred at a 
time when the President's budgets contained little or no increases or 
even decreases in funding for most appropriated programs.
  Unfortunately, through no lack of effort on Jo Anne's part, the 
amount of money ultimately appropriated for SSA's administrative costs 
has been substantially below the amount requested by the President each 
year. This is a problem that needs to be rectified in the future.
  One of Jo Anne's finest moments came after the terrible hurricanes,

[[Page S1235]]

Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, decimated whole areas of the gulf coast and 
Florida. GAO reported: ``The Social Security Administration had 
enhanced planning and pre-established procedures in place to provide 
immediate emergency payments to the significant number of beneficiaries 
who evacuated and did not receive their monthly checks. With these 
procedures in place, the Social Security Administration had the 
capability to deploy staff and equipment from its 1,300 offices across 
the Nation to address the increased workload.''
  Under Jo Anne's guidance, SSA also successfully implemented some 
brand new permanent responsibilities without a hitch. For example, SSA 
was asked to take applications for the low-income subsidy portion of 
the Medicare prescription drug program. This subsidy allows low-income 
Medicare beneficiaries to participate in the prescription drug program 
at no or reduced cost. SSA was also asked to do massive amounts of 
outreach to find the people who qualified for the subsidies, and it did 
so.
  Jo Anne also guided the implementation of some brand new systems 
projects. For example, she oversaw the digital recording of hearings. 
SSA used to record all hearings before its administrative law judges 
with regular cassette tapes. These tapes were difficult to ship and 
were often lost during transit. Jo Anne and her team spearheaded the 
effort to have hearings recorded digitally.
  It is clear that Commissioner Barnhart accomplished an extraordinary 
number of achievements for SSA. She has reason to be proud, and the 
country owes her a huge debt of gratitude.
  I wish her the very best in whatever endeavors she takes on after she 
leaves SSA. But we will sorely miss her.

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