It is requested that persons scheduled to appear before the Subcommittee to testify at this hearing submit 50 copies of their prepared statements to the Committee office no later than 24 hours prior to their scheduled appearance. An additional 50 copies may be furnished for distribution to the press and the interested public on the date of appearance.

Any interested person or organization may, in lieu of a personal appearance, file a written statement for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing. For this purpose, statements should be submitted in triplicate by the close of business Friday, Ocober 3, 1975. Additional copies may be furnished for distribution to the press and the interested public if submitted to the Subcommittee during the course of the public hearing

BACKGROUND MATERIAL ON SOCIAL SECURITY HEARINGS AND APPEALS

Introduction

This print is designed to provide Members with background information for the hearings which will be held before the Subcommittee on Social Security on September 19 and 26 and on October 3, 1975. The information and discussion of issues up-dates and expands upon the material on the social security appeals process contained in the "Committee Staff Report on the Disability Insurance Program," July 1974 (hereinafter called the Committee Staff Report). In its findings and recommendation section the Committee Staff Report stated: In view of the "appeals crisis" which will grow in coming months, the Committee may wish to reexamine the complex structure of the appeals procedures and attempt to obtain answers to the following difficult questions: Can the Appeals Council be restructured in order to provide more definitive and supportable administrative determinations? Can the system continue to provide both a full administrative reconsideration and a hearing under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)? Are certain of the administrative and judicial remand procedures causing undue delay for claimants? Can the District Courts withstand the flood of new cases, particularly where many of them ignore the substantial evidence rule and try the case de novo? The staff has, in a preliminary manner, examined some alternative approaches to these problems and they are presented in Part II, section D, Disability Appeals Procedure, in this document (pp. 31-44).

The Civil Service Commission has interpreted the 1972 Amendments in such a manner as to exclude SSI hearings from the applicability of the APA and has decreed that the SSI "hearing examiners" must be appointed by the Secretary of HEW rather than by the Commission and classified at a lower grade than those who conduct Social Security disability hearings. The Commission's conclusion with respect to the applicability of the APA to SSI hearings is clearly contrary to the intent of the Committee and the Congress. In Part II, section F, Status of the SSI Program Under the Administrative Procedure Act (pp. 55-75), the staff makes certain recommendations in this area which are intended to make clear the Committee's intent concerning the SSI hearings procedures (page 6).

In July of 1975 Social Security Commissioner Cardwell transmitted a progress report on action directed toward the issues raised by the Committee Staff Report. The portion of this transmittal dealing with the social security appeals procedure appears in the appendix on page 19.

Attention is also called to the committee print issued August 1, 1975, entitled, "Staff Survey of the State Disability Agencies Under Social Security and SSI Programs." This survey, which is based on a questionnaire sent by the subcommittee staff to the 54 State agencies that determine disability under the social security and SSI programs, contains expressions of the views of the State agencies concerning some of the issues that will be before the subcommittee during its hearings.

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