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     The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has completed its review of Social Security's proposed final rule which will remove inability to communicate in English as a criteria in disability determination. The rule was approved and should be published in the Federal Register in the near future.

    A press release : Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA), Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B. Larson (D-CT), and Worker & Family Support Subcommittee Chairman Danny K. Davis (D-IL) released the following statement regarding reports of a draft Social Security Administration (SSA) rule that would narrow the eligibility criteria for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits:  �Yet again, the Trump Administration is going out of its way to make life more challenging for the most vulnerable people in our country. The United States government already has extremely stringent disability standards. In fact, fewer than four in 10 applicants are found eligible for Social Security disability benefits, even after all levels of appeal. This rule would further restrict eligibility, making it even harder for disabled people to access the essential income they�re qualified to receive. We are pa...

     The Wall Street Journal article on the plan to alter Social Security�s grid regulations used in determining disability is now available outside the paywall. Here are some excerpts: ... �Evidence shows that in the modern economy the vocational impacts of age, education and work experience are markedly different from what they were when we published the current vocational regulations,� according to the text dated Oct. 18. ...   The proposed rule ... would no longer assume age seriously affects a person�s ability to adapt to simple, entry-level work. It would raise the age at which education and work experience are considered in determining eligibility to 55, from 50. The new rule would also update data on occupational skills that the agency uses to determine eligibility, based on new information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. ...   A person familiar with the proposal said it has been a top priority for some Social Security Administration officials, who...

     The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Trump Administration is working on a plan to make it harder to qualify for Social Security disability benefits, apparently by revising the grid regulations. The paper says it has seen a copy of the draft.      You have to wonder who leaked this. Was it someone in the Trump Administration proud of the plan? The fact that this appeared in the Wall Street Journal suggests that. That's crazy since this is bound to be unpopular with far more people than it's popular with. It's also possible that this was leaked by an opponent who wants to make it clear what the stakes will be in this November's election although that seems unlikely. You have to wonder if this, like the assassination in Iraq, is an attempt to curry favor with an impeachment juror .      In any case, there's virtually zero chance this will happen before the election. The provisions of the Administrative Procedure Ac...

     Here is an excerpt from a news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued on February 21, 2019: ... Almost all workers were required to use fine manipulation (97.0 percent) and gr oss manipulation (99.4 percent). ...      Note that Social Security Ruling 96-9p says that  "any significant manipulative limitation of an individual's ability to handle and work with small objects with both hands will result in a significant erosion of the unskilled sedentary occupational base." It seems to me that that it would now be more accurate to say that even the loss of manipulation results in a significant erosion of the entire occupational base, without regard to exertional level and without regard to the distinction between gross and fine manipulation.      I have checked with Social Security. This news release was based on a study done at the behest of the Social Security Administration and is part of the effort to produce a ...