A new report by the Republican staff of the House Oversight Committee of the Congress complains that almost 200 administrative law judges “rubberstamp” claims. Presumably by that they mean approve too many claims. The report was discussed earlier this week at a Congressional hearing and, of course, widely reported by media.
What’s discouraging is what Congress never asks about. There are approximately 1500 judges in the Social Security Disability System. The “almost 200” singled out by Republican staff have higher than average approval numbers for disability claims. That leaves 1300 who are apparently acceptable to Republican staff, meaning that they have average or lower than average approval numbers for the disability claims they hear.
Why aren’t we investigating those with lower than average approval ratings?
Why aren’t we asking hard questions about why disabled folks have to wait two years to get to a hearing?
It’s time to ask the right questions.