Rescission of American Rescue Plan Act Grants is a Major Setback for Unemployment Insurance
Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Department of Labor sent a letter to state unemployment insurance (UI) agencies, requiring them to return any unspent funds allocated in the American Rescue Plan Act to combat fraud, enhance timeliness, and increase equitable access to benefits. Academy Senior Fellow Michele Evermore — who served in the Office of Unemployment […]
Schedule Policy/Career and the Social Security Administration: History, Implications, and Limitations
The Trump Administration has proposed to create a new category of excepted service positions called “Schedule Policy/Career” (Schedule P/C, formerly called Schedule F). Under President Trump’s January 2025 executive order and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)’s proposed regulations issued last month, the President would designate certain “policy-influencing” positions as Schedule P/C. Positions in this […]
Statement from Michele Evermore, Academy Senior Fellow, on DOGE and the Department of Labor
Washington, D.C. — As DOGE reexamines information that the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General has been using to detect, prevent and recoup billions in pandemic era fraud, information they have surfaced has resulted in the spread of misinformation and presenting old issues as newly discovered. To help provide context to this issue, Michele Evermore, […]
Promising Policy Innovations to Make Aging in the Community Affordable for All: Lessons from the Netherlands
In the early 21st century, Dutch policymakers began to realize that demographic shifts with financing and workforce implications would threaten the sustainability of its universal long-term care system. Over the past two decades, the Netherlands has undertaken a series of significant structural reforms to render the system more efficient and fiscally sustainable while also strengthening […]
Statement from Michele Evermore, Academy Senior Fellow, on How to Responsibly Fight Fraud in the Unemployment Insurance System
Washington, D.C. — As the House of Representatives moves to consider ways to address fraud in the unemployment insurance (UI) system, National Academy of Social Insurance Senior Fellow Michele Evermore released the following statement: There are several factors to consider in figuring out how to detect and prevent fraud going forward and how to address […]
Promising Policy Innovations to Make Aging in the Community Affordable for All: Lessons from the Netherlands
In the early 21st century, Dutch policymakers began to realize that demographic shifts with financing and workforce implications would threaten the sustainability of its universal long-term care system. Over the past two decades, the Netherlands has undertaken a series of significant structural reforms to render the system more efficient and fiscally sustainable while also strengthening […]
CEO Rebecca Vallas Testifies Before the Senate Budget Committee
Academy CEO Rebecca Vallas testified before the Senate Budget Committee this week in a hearing on securing Social Security’s future and addressing the Social Security Administration’s customer service challenges. Other witnesses included SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley and Academy member Shai Akabas of the Bipartisan Policy Center. As Rebecca told the Committee: “When we talk about Social Security, […]
Outdated Supplemental Security Income Rules Harm 300,000 U.S. Veterans
Niskanen Center, Justice in Aging, The Arc of the United States Managed by the Social Security Administration, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a federal program that provides monthly cash benefits to low-income, low-wealth elderly and disabled Americans. Established in 1972 to assure that “the nation’s aged, disabled, and blind would no longer have to subsist […]
Humanizing the Social Security Administration’s Administrative Budget
The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) administrative budget and staffing levels have shrunk by double digits over the past decade, due in part to caps on discretionary funding put in place in 2011. Meanwhile, the number of Social Security beneficiaries has grown at an even greater rate, leading to serious backlogs and customer service challenges for […]