Recovery Act Funding for New ALJs

[ssaer]

Speaking before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security on April 28, 2009, SSA's Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance and Management, Mary Glenn-Croft, stated as follows:

"Of more than 7,000 new hires that we are making this fiscal year, the Recovery Act funding will allow us to hire more than 2,000 Federal employees and the States to hire additional disability examiners. Specifically, in the near term:

* * *
• Our hearings offices will hire 550 new employees and 35 additional administrative law judges."

Can we assume that this involves an increase over the 157 ALJ hires that were previously announced, i.e., that the new FY 2009 hiring total -- from the current certificate, and the subject of offers expected during the week of May 18 -- will be 192 ALJs?

[morgullord]

It will most likely result in a second cert; it is very unlikely that SSA will shoe-horn another 35 judges into the limited number of hearing offices on this cert.

[pm]

The 35 are for the fall cert