AFGE President says cuts to critical services hurt expanding senior population

WASHINGTON - The American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox applauded a bill by Rep. Bruce Braley (IA) that would delay cuts to two vital services at field offices, Social Security Number Printouts and Benefit Verification Forms.

The Social Security Number Printouts and Benefit Verification Forms are used for a variety of purposes, including car loans, mortgage applications, housing assistance and when applying for other government assistance programs.

"The Social Security Administration has never justified cuts to these two critical field office services," said Cox. "The 11 million Americans who visited field offices specifically for these forms deserve answers, since on August 1 and October 1 the services they rely on will simply disappear."

Rather than providing same-day, in-person service, visitors who need copies of Benefit Verification Forms will be directed to the MySSA website, a poorly designed customer service platform which requires users to go through a complicated registration process. Ultimately, nearly 1 in 3 enrollees who attempt to register on the MySSA website are rejected.

Those who need Benefit Verification Forms will also be directed to the delay-plagued 800 number, but will have to wait 7 - 10 days to receive a copy by mail - far too long for those who urgently need a hard copy of the forms for other assistance programs.

Those who want a Social Security Number Printout, an expedited way to obtain proof of your Social Security Number, will instead have to file for a completely new card, which will also take 7 - 10 days to arrive by mail.

Cox said that the SSA's plan to direct people to its website, part of its Vision 2025 strategy, places too big a burden on at-risk populations.

"It's important to protect the services that seniors and disabled Americans depend on," said Cox. "SSA's vision for the future leaves out those who need field office assistance and as more baby boomers approach retirement age, we need more service staff, not less."

Cox emphasized that seniors should be able to choose how they work with SSA, whether in-person, on the phone or via the website.

"A large number of seniors either don't have access to the internet or are more comfortable discussing their benefits in person," said Cox. "They deserve to get the expertise of field office staff and local access to the benefits and services they've earned."

Read the Legislation by Rep. Braley.

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Good morning, Chairman Rokita, Chairman Meehan, and Ranking Member Clarke. I'd like to thank you for holding today's hearing and thank our witnesses for being here.

More than ever before, technology plays an essential role in educating our children. Technology-based educational tools and platforms offer important new capabilities for students and teachers at both the K-12 and university levels.

The increasing number of educational iPad and iPhone apps, online study tools, and engagement programs illustrate the growing abundance of tech resources that are being used to meet students' individual learning needs.

These educational tools generate tremendous amounts of data that are instrumental in improving a student's learning experience. Data allows teachers to quickly identify and address gaps in student understanding before they fall behind.  And by making data available to parents, they can track their child's progress and participate more fully in their education.

Beyond addressing the needs of individual students, data aids schools in their institutional and administrative functions. School and district leaders rely on data to drive improvement and decision-making around curriculum, technology infrastructure, and staffing.

The availability of new types of data also improves researchers' ability to learn about learning. Data from a student's experience in technology-based learning platforms can be precisely tracked, opening the door to more accurately understanding how students move through a curriculum, and at greater scale, than traditional education research is able to achieve.

As data systems become more integrated into the learning and teaching process, we are seeing the impact that they can have on students, teachers, administrators, and policymakers. These systems enable teachers, schools, and districts to make more informed decisions to enhance student learning.

Meanwhile, a growing number of online educational services have the ability to enhance learning within the classroom and extend it beyond the school day. Edmodo, which is used by more than 20 million teachers and students worldwide, allows teachers to set up virtual classrooms and then post homework assignments and other content to extend lessons. Khan Academy has more than 5,000 instructional videos and assessments, which allow students of all ages to learn at their own pace in subject areas ranging from pre-algebra to differential equations, from art history to computer science.

With this explosion in online resources, there is a large amount of new data being generated by children using these services, which raises valid privacy concerns.

The privacy of student education records is protected under FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. When those student education records are hosted or analyzed by private companies that are helping districts build data systems to drive improvement, those same FERPA protections still apply.

However, when students use online services like Khan Academy?in school or at home?or when teachers use grade and behavior tracking software on their iPads, all of that data are not necessarily covered by FERPA. In those direct interactions between students and software companies, data are being collected to build user profiles, individualize the learning experience, and track progress, but in the cases where FERPA does not apply, it is not always clear what protections exist to guarantee the privacy of those data and ensure companies are not using them to target advertisements at children.

This committee will hear important testimony today about the value that these tailored technological resources provide to students themselves and the importance of ensuring access to data for teachers and researchers seeking to improve education. We'll also hear about the need for consistent privacy policies and current efforts to guarantee the security and privacy of student data.

As we examine the privacy concerns prompted by the rapidly growing education technology sector and the information it collects, it's clear that we must strive to find a balance between privacy and innovation. We must ensure that companies involved in collecting and analyzing student data are not exploiting students' private information for marketing purposes or financial gain.

Data are an invaluable tool. Data empowers teachers, guides individualized learning, and informs policy. As we consider where improvements are needed in privacy regulations, we must be sure that we do not compromise the value of student data.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses.

Thank you very much.

Committee on Education and the Workforce Democrats

Congressman discusses issue faced by hundreds of U.S. families encountering needless delays in adoptions from the Congolese government

Washington, D.C. -Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) today met with Erin Peat of Dubuque to discuss stalled adoptions between American families and their children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  Erin and her husband Michael Peat legally adopted two children from the DRC, however in the final stage of their lengthy adoption process, the DRC issued a moratorium on the 'exit letters' necessary to finalize their adoptions and bring their children home to the United States.

Braley also met with families from Clear Lake, Bettendorf, and West Des Moines who all face similar delays.

"Meeting with Erin and hearing first-hand about the red tape separating her family makes the issue even more important to me," Braley said. "I cannot imagine being separated from my three children, and I will continue doing everything possible to ensure families like Erin's are reunited as quickly as possible."

Last month, the State Department announced that the Congolese government would issue a total of 62 'exit letters'?15 of which would be issued to American families?but the overwhelming majority of U.S. families have received no update from the Congolese government and their adoptions remain in limbo.

Approximately 460 families have had their adoptions suspended, but the Peats are one of only about 50 families that have had it occur at such a late stage in the process. They were granted their adoption visa by the United States. However, the DRC suddenly refused to issue exit letters, which is the final step allowing families to bring their children to the United States.

Braley has written the Congolese Prime Minister, the Congolese Ambassador to the United States, and Secretary of State John Kerry calling for a resolution to this issue.