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Department/Agency:

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

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Washington, DC

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• Government Reform for Competition and Innovation Ideas

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  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Eliminate Divorced Spouse Social Security Benefit

  We can make Social Security more solvent now and in the future by eliminating the benefit currently available to divorced spouses of Social Security beneficiaries. Why should a divorced person receive a monetary benefit from the government simply because they were once married to someone who qualifies for SS benefits. Really? Why should tax dollars pay for this amazingly unfair government expenditure? Especially ...more »

  We can make Social Security more solvent now and in the future by eliminating the benefit currently available to divorced spouses of Social Security beneficiaries.

  Why should a divorced person receive a monetary benefit from the government simply because they were once married to someone who qualifies for SS benefits. Really? Why should tax dollars pay for this amazingly unfair government expenditure? Especially when those of us who will rely heavily SS retirement benefits (that we have earned for ourselves) are being threatened with the possibility that we may not have that benefit due to insolvency of the program.

  I don't know how the "divorced and unremarried" provision made it in to the initial law, but it is completely non-sensical and inane to me. I also do not know how much money would be saved by eliminating this unearned SS benefit, but I am pretty sure it would be significant.

  Before Congress tries to scare people who have contributed to SS all their working lives that their earned benefits are likely to be reduced and/or delayed, stop giving away UNEARNED benefits to former spouses.

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  2 comments for Idea: Eliminate Divorced Spouse Social Security Benefit

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Legalize marijuana. We're losing millions $$.

  Federal law enforcement agencies can be more effective and efficient if they weren't required to devote so much of their time to looking for, apprehending, and incarcerating marijuana users and people who sell only that product. Prisons would be more effective and efficient if they didn't have to house and feed millions of "criminals" whose only crime was possession of an ounce of a completely natural and ancient herb. ...more »

  Federal law enforcement agencies can be more effective and efficient if they weren't required to devote so much of their time to looking for, apprehending, and incarcerating marijuana users and people who sell only that product.

  Prisons would be more effective and efficient if they didn't have to house and feed millions of "criminals" whose only crime was possession of an ounce of a completely natural and ancient herb.

  The justice system would be more effective and efficient if they didn't have to spend such an insane amount of time processing people who possess or buy only marijuana.

  The arguments for legalization and taxation of marijuana are made so often these days that it is easy to tune out proponents. But the issue bears repeating if only for the "um, DUH" nature of the concepts behind them. So, here it is again for those who have not been paying attention.

  Alcohol prohibition didn't work for the obvious reason that people like to drink. It feels good and is fun, if you like that sort of thing. Not everyone does, but some do and that's fine.

  To obtain alcohol during prohibition, people had to use illegal means which made it much more expensive than it should have been. It is undisputed that alcohol prohibition enriched the mob and other organized crime groups as it simultaneously drained the coffers of government law enforcement organizations (who were fighting an un-winnable "war against...." alcohol). And of course normally law-abiding citizens were harmed because they were forced to pay more than the real value for a commodity they wanted.

  Finally, and what should be most near and dear to the hearts of our Congress and state governments, all U.S. governments lost out on a really nice chunk of change in the form of lost tax revenue.

  If marijuana is legalized our prisons would experience a population drain with only rapists, thieves, murders, child molesters, counterfeiters, robbers, and other serious criminals remaining behind.

  If marijuana were taxed, a revenue source for organized crime would dry up and transfer nicely over to the government.

  Finally, if marijuana were legalized and taxed, only those who use it would pay taxes on it. As things stand now, everyone who pays taxes in this country--whether they use marijuana or not--pays the cost of apprehension, trial, and incarceration of marijuana users (medical and otherwise).

  For once, let us learn from history and legalize the use and possession of an herb that is far less harmful to the human body than alcohol. Allow law enforcement to direct their energies and limited funding toward the apprehension of dangerous criminals and dealers of dangerous drugs.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Combine OPM with OMB

  OPM began as the Civil Service Commission many years ago when there was a need to show the American public--unquestionably--that the U.S. Government hires and manages employees based on merit and not because of a person's connections. One can argue whether anyone has ever been convinced of that theory, but I digress. The "Management" parts of OMB and OPM overlap at some points and even where they don't overlap there ...more »

  OPM began as the Civil Service Commission many years ago when there was a need to show the American public--unquestionably--that the U.S. Government hires and manages employees based on merit and not because of a person's connections. One can argue whether anyone has ever been convinced of that theory, but I digress.

  The "Management" parts of OMB and OPM overlap at some points and even where they don't overlap there is no longer a pressing need to staff up an entirely separate operation just to prove a public point. We may do well to merge the two organizations, one that has a "Management" side and a "Budget" side within the singly-headed organization. Money would be saved by having one rather than two political appointees, and by the de facto reduction in the number of subordinate political appointees. Today (and always in the past) OPM has appointees who serve similar functions to those in OMB.

  The audit functions that both organizations perform can also be more efficiently done if managed singly rather than doubly.

  Personnel policy can be established just as easily at OMB as it is in OPM... just bring the staff over (and reduce some of the extraneous SES number in the process).

  In addition, a government-wide savings can be realized by bringing back in to the appropriations process the reimburseable "services" OPM currently offers.

  Government agencies should do things that are inherently governmental. Security background checks and merit-system recruitment and examining for other Federal agencies are all so important that our government's agencies should not have to shop around for the best deal. Wait, that's not completely the case right now; when it comes to security checks, agencies have to shop at the "company store" and pay for services that are required of them (which is ludicrous). And when it comes to making sure agencies actually follow the merit system principles established by the Civil Service Commission all those years ago, how is that NOT inherently governmental? HR functions were decentralized back when automation and fantastic information technology was merely a dream for most people. With today's capabilities, we can improve the quality and timeliness of the hiring process, and secure a better chance that merit system principles may actually be followed more often than they are today.

  Merge OMB and OPM, authorize appropriation of services that agencies now must pay for out of their shrinking budgets, and help come closer to realizing the goals of Theodore Roosevelt for a personnel system based on merit.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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