SALON

Monday, Jan 28, 2013 2:45 AM UTC

US sen. from Pa.: Expand Social Security screening

By

Topics: From the Wires,

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Casey says a pilot program designed to prevent criminals from becoming managers of a person’s Social Security benefits has screened out dozens of people convicted of fraud and violence.

The Pennsylvania Democrat now wants the Social Security Administration to expand and improve the initiative, which was launched last summer in five states and Washington, D.C., after a convicted killer on parole in Philadelphia allegedly kept several mentally disabled people captive while cashing their benefits checks.

In a letter to Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue, Casey asks the federal agency to provide him with more information on goals, methods and a timeline for a revamped background check system. Casey’s office provided a draft of the letter Sunday to The Associated Press.

About 5.6 million representative payees — those who receive benefits on behalf of people who cannot manage the funds themselves — handle $61 billion in Social Security payments each year for about 7.6 million beneficiaries.

“These beneficiaries need to know their representatives are individuals who can be trusted,” Casey wrote.

A spokeswoman said Casey would discuss the letter further at a news conference on Monday. A Social Security spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Casey has been pushing the agency to be more vigilant in performing background checks on people who want to be designated as representative payees. He announced the pilot program in June, which includes Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Under the program, Social Security offices in the Philadelphia region instituted a new policy that barred people convicted of certain crimes — including sex offenses, theft, forgery and abuse — from serving as payees. Applicants were asked specific questions about past criminal behavior and agency employees used an in-house database to cross-check convictions.

Through Jan. 23, 100 people were rejected from becoming payees, Casey said.

The stepped-up effort stems from the 2011 arrest of parolee Linda Weston of Philadelphia.

Weston faces state and federal charges for allegedly tricking mentally disabled people into making her their payee while she kept them captive in squalid basements, attics and closets. Federal prosecutors allege she caused the deaths of two people through abuse and neglect.

Weston, 52, maintains her innocence, and has pleaded not guilty to the state charges.

Weston served prison time decades ago for starving a man to death, but her past went undetected for years while she allegedly profited from other people’s government benefits. Federal law prohibits anyone who has been incarcerated for more than a year from becoming a payee.

A recent inspector general’s report indicated the Social Security Administration was not effectively enforcing the law, instead relying on applicants to self-report the information.

Social Security Administration spokesman Mark Hinkle has previously said key stumbling blocks to more vigorous screening are the agency’s lack of access to government databases with criminal background information and a dearth of staff to perform checks on each applicant.

Casey introduced legislation in November 2011 that would give the agency access to better criminal databases, including the one used by the FBI. He said the Social Security Administration’s in-house records are not comprehensive enough. Congress did not act on the bill last session, and Casey plans to reintroduce it.

___

Follow Kathy Matheson at www.twitter.com/kmatheson

More By Kathy Matheson.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
212 points213 points | 12 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
195 points196 points | 29 comments
vote
Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills. "In an economy where we’re all in the same boat, one person’s spending is another person’s income. So when the government cuts spending, it reduces people’s income, leading to less business, more unemployment, and a vicious spiral of slowing down the economy."
174 points175 points | 108 comments
vote
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”: The sci-fi classic that never was.
75 points76 points | 16 comments
vote
Doug Henwood: Capitalism Thrives on Class Exploitation
47 points48 points | 5 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations