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Post by carrickfergus on Jul 26, 2023 11:11:47 GMT -5
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Post by jagvet on Jul 26, 2023 18:04:43 GMT -5
In searching for a permanent Commish, the White House probably asked, "Who would have the shortest drive to work?" Seriously, not a bad choice!
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Post by mercury on Jul 27, 2023 14:18:58 GMT -5
I look forward to having a Senate-confirmed COSS to do the people’s work.
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Post by extang on Jul 27, 2023 15:23:20 GMT -5
If I remember correctly, the staute provides for six-year terms for COSS. Does anybody know how much time is left in the current term?
It is a little shocking that a Democratic administration took this much time to nominate a COSS. I guess they deserve some credit for getting rid of the Trump appointee.
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Post by jagvet on Jul 27, 2023 18:13:21 GMT -5
There's no current term. Terms are meaningless, anyway. Biden fired Saul with two years left, and recent Supreme Court cases say that policy makers can be fired even if there's a term. Even if O'Malley gets confirmed, the next president after Biden will fire him in 2025.
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Post by ba on Jul 28, 2023 10:22:55 GMT -5
There's no current term. Terms are meaningless, anyway. Biden fired Saul with two years left, and recent Supreme Court cases say that policy makers can be fired even if there's a term. Even if O'Malley gets confirmed, the next president after Biden will fire him in 2025. To be more accurate, the SCOTUS held that single headed agencies, such as the CTFB and SSA, the agency head can be discharged by the President without good cause. That is not the case with multi-headed independent agencies where the heads have staggered terms. There’s ample reason for the distinction as each President can influence agency policy in the areas that Congress exercises this judgment, but rarely can one control it completely. In areas that require policy stability (like monetary policy), this set up has a long history and will probably survive. |
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Post by jagvet on Jul 28, 2023 14:49:30 GMT -5
You're right about Seila Law v. CTFB. In Seila, the Supreme Court actually cited SSA as an agency that also has a single-headed agency. Guess what? Biden fired Commisioner Saul AND Deputy Commissioner Black even though Saul had time left on his term. O'Malley shouldn't plan on a full term. That said, I think the implications of Seila are applicable to other federal policy-makers and agency heads. Since that decision, Ginsburg was replaced by Barrett. I think it is likely that Thomas and Gorsuch's concurrence might well be joined by Barrett (and possibly Kavanagh) to hold in a future case (e.g., FBI, IRS, US Attorney) that the executive has to be able to execute the law with his own nominees and that Congress can't tie his hands with holdovers.
Time will tell.
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Post by ba on Jul 28, 2023 18:10:48 GMT -5
You're right about Seila Law v. CTFB. In Seila, the Supreme Court actually cited SSA as an agency that also has a single-headed agency. Guess what? Biden fired Commisioner Saul AND Deputy Commissioner Black even though Saul had time left on his term. O'Malley shouldn't plan on a full term. That said, I think the implications of Seila are applicable to other federal policy-makers and agency heads. Since that decision, Ginsburg was replaced by Barrett. I think it is likely that Thomas and Gorsuch's concurrence might well be joined by Barrett (and possibly Kavanagh) to hold in a future case (e.g., FBI, IRS, US Attorney) that the executive has to be able to execute the law with his own nominees and that Congress can't tie his hands with holdovers. Time will tell. The FBI, IRS, and US Attorneys (who are inferior officers) are all executive agencies. There’s no question they can be fired at will. You may recall Trump firing his FBI Director, James Comey, and replacing him with Wray. The place where we will likely see terms and good cause protections remain are agencies like the Federal Reserve, the SEC, the FCC, and other independent, multi-headed agencies. |
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Post by christina on Jul 29, 2023 9:29:08 GMT -5
If I remember correctly, the staute provides for six-year terms for COSS. Does anybody know how much time is left in the current term? It is a little shocking that a Democratic administration took this much time to nominate a COSS. I guess they deserve some credit for getting rid of the Trump appointee. A lot of credit on last point. A COSS I was rather unfond of myself |
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Post by arkstfan on Jul 30, 2023 11:45:01 GMT -5
If I remember correctly, the staute provides for six-year terms for COSS. Does anybody know how much time is left in the current term? It is a little shocking that a Democratic administration took this much time to nominate a COSS. I guess they deserve some credit for getting rid of the Trump appointee. A lot of credit on last point. A COSS I was rather unfond of myself Regardless of politics, the public shouldn't be paying for an agency head who frequently only logged in to work after offices emptied for the day. I suppose there is some merit to sorting through work emails uninterrupted but not an effective way to handle the overall work load. The hypocrisy of being opposed to telework while frequently only working outside the core band and working 200 miles from the office is just impressive. |
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Post by jagvet on Jul 30, 2023 17:12:32 GMT -5
I don't think anyone knows when or how often Dr. Kilolo Kijakazi logs on. Her communications seem to have been exclusively "Happy Flag Day", "Eat your vegetables," "National Pencil Sharpening Month" and the like. I'm sure she's a fine acting commissioner, but I don't know that she would have been fond of telework if it hadn't been for COVID. When I was working for another department during the Obama administration, the political appointees fought telework tooth and nail. Remember, the all-remote for COVID was supposed to have been temporary when it started.
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Post by arkstfan on Jul 30, 2023 21:17:00 GMT -5
I don't think anyone knows when or how often Dr. Kilolo Kijakazi logs on. Her communications seem to have been exclusively "Happy Flag Day", "Eat your vegetables," "National Pencil Sharpening Month" and the like. I'm sure she's a fine acting commissioner, but I don't know that she would have been fond of telework if it hadn't been for COVID. When I was working for another department during the Obama administration, the political appointees fought telework tooth and nail. Remember, the all-remote for COVID was supposed to have been temporary when it started. I suspect there are people who know her log in and log out times, who can easily getting meetings and who cannot and know movements around HQ. That information is either not damaging or just hasn't made it in the hands of someone who has reason to inflict damage. 15 years ago I was in state government and my best staff attorney had cancer and was taking intermittent FMLA with some of it unpaid. After visiting with her, I felt if we would permit 8 hours of telework per week, I could keep her in pay status for more hours and I would get more high quality work if she was working some of that time she couldn't make it to the office. Our IT was all set up for telework because we had people working in the field doing most of their work remotely. They'd log in to file inspection reports and access lab results. They were typically out of office 20-32 hours per week depending on how close their assignments that week were to the office. I started out pitching 8 hours telework per week for everyone except me because my role required lot of face-to-face work. It was a hard no from our political appointee boss. I came back with, allow her 8 hours a week as an accommodation for her short-term disability, again a hard no, we've already addressed it with the FMLA. Political appointees are just prone to be a hard no on telework. 11 years later I'm in cancer treatment and working at SSA. I didn't have to file anything other than log the hours I worked and choose between annual and sick leave for the hours missed and I teleworked a few hours each week when I wasn't at the clinic, hospital or hugging the toilet. Just the sort of decency that political appointees can't stand. |
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Post by jagvet on Jul 31, 2023 19:47:12 GMT -5
Political appointees are just prone to be a hard no on telework. So true. I think it's one of the ways the politicals of both parties try to prove they're tough. In my past agency, I had two excellent attorneys with bedrest orders for dangerous twin pregnancies. My Obama political Deputy ASSistant Sec said no to my telework requests for each of them, even as the US Department of ________ was boasting about maximizing telework. Each lawyer said she would have to resign rather than go on unpaid FMLA. I finally went to over the DAS's head to the Assistant Secretary to get approvals. That was ten years ago, and both employees are still working there. It took a pandemic for SSA to make remote hearings routinely available. |
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Post by arkstfan on Jul 31, 2023 21:28:45 GMT -5
Political appointees are just prone to be a hard no on telework. So true. I think it's one of the ways the politicals of both parties try to prove they're tough. In my past agency, I had two excellent attorneys with bedrest orders for dangerous twin pregnancies. My Obama political Deputy ASSistant Sec said no to my telework requests for each of them, even as the US Department of ________ was boasting about maximizing telework. Each lawyer said she would have to resign rather than go on unpaid FMLA. I finally went to over the DAS's head to the Assistant Secretary to get approvals. That was ten years ago, and both employees are still working there. It took a pandemic for SSA to make remote hearings routinely available. Kudos for fighting for your people |
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