And now to london for Prime Ministers question time live from the british house of commons. Every wednesday while parliament is in session Prime Minister David Cameron takes questions from members of the house of commons. Prior to question time the house is wrapping up other business. This is live coverage on cspa cspan2. A reminder of the sacrifices that Police Officers make on our behalf every day of every year. Oon a happy note im sure the house will wish to congratulate professor higgs who is sharing this years nobel prize for physics. It is a richly deserved recognition of his research and attribute the uks world leading universities where his research was carried out. Mr. Speaker, this morning i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others, and in addition to my duties in this house, i shall have further such meetings later today. Tom maheras. Can i associate myself and my constituents entirely with attribute the primers has made to the victims of terrorism in nairobi and to the treaty under duncan, and, of course, offer up congratulations to the professor. Mr. Speaker, can the Prime Minister can from the less than a third of families will benefit from his mild tax break . I can confirm is all married couples paying basic rate tax will benefit from this move. Ill tell you what i think this is important. Its not about the money. Its about the message. I think marriage is a Great Institution and i think we should be supporting marriage including through the income tax system. Nigel evans. Prime minister, with the disappearance of the minimum practice income guarantee, many doctors surgeries serving remote rural areas like the one in my constituency faced death by one guy. This are a lot of elderly residents and, indeed, a number of children who dont have access to great public care, transport to go into neighboring areas. Will investigate this issue and ensure that my constituents will not be isolated and less they will continue to receive the Excellent Services they do from their doctor a surgery . I will look carefully of the case that he makes. I represent a large role constituency whether are still small practices. I think it is the case many more doctors surgeries are offering many more services with Practice Nurses and other assistance given to patients and we want to see a growth of that, not least make sure people can go to gp surgeries rather than emergency units if its a gp they need but i will look at the specific point that he makes. Mr. Ed miliband. [shouting] mr. Speaker, i join the Prime Minister and send my condolences to the friends and families of the british nationals murdered in nairobi and all of those killed in that cowardly act. It was a heinous act of terrorism and remind us of importance of combating terrorism at home and around the world. I also joined in paying tribute to andrew duncan. His death is a terrible tragedy and is a reminder of the bravery shown by our brave men, policemen and women day in, day out on our behalf. And i send my condolences to his family and friends. On a completely different note i join them until brings a tremendous achievement of peter higgs in winning the nobel prize of physics. He is a Great British scientist. While were about it, mr. Speaker, happy birthday to the Prime Minister. [cheers and applause] mr. Speaker, mr. Speaker, on monday, on monday the Prime Minister said and i quote, theres a certain amount you can do Freezing Energy Prices. While the chancellor said in his Conference Speech it was something out and i quote can he tell us is Freezing Energy Prices a good idea or a communist plot . [laughter] ill b leave the comments of plot to him. [laughter] first of all, can i thank them [cheers and applause] and i thank him for his kind remarks. Of course, theres nothing id rather be doing on my birthday than this. [laughter] what this government is doing is legislating to put people on to the Lowest Energy tears. I think theres a real step forward. What i have to say on this issue of just promising a freeze it is a classic case of saying one thing and doing another. Month after month he stood at this dispatch box as Energy Secretary and produce policy after policy, regulation after regulation, target after target, all of which were Energy Prices up. Whats clear from that answer is he has no answer on labours energy price freeze. And what is clear is it wont happen under him but it would happen under a Labour Government. Now, he mentioned his policy on terrorist and he says that his policy will be the Cheapest Energy tariff. Can you explain why at least 90 of the country will get no benefit of his policy . First of all that is, thats lets been all a bit of time on a. Lets examine the fact he is committed to a new decarbonization target i would add 125 pounds to everyones bill in the country. Perhaps you would like to mention that when he gets to see. He also didnt mention the fact that just 12 hours after making his pledge he said he might not be able to fulfill it because of International Wholesale gas prices. And isnt that the case . What he is promising is a price increase before a promise, a broken promise at any price increase after promise. One price increase, one broken promise, another price increase. That sounds like every Labour Government since the war. Ed miliband. So what is clear is that he is floundering around and he has no answer to labours energy price freeze. He didnt even defend his own policy, which will benefit 90 of the country. Hes got no idea. He said he wants to bring Energy Prices down. Can he confirm and get prices have gone up by 300 pounds since he became Prime Minister . I can tell them that Energy Prices doubled under labour, electricity prices went up by 50 . Let me make this point. Theres one thing government cant control and that is the International Wholesale price of gas. I know youd like to live in some sort of marxist universe where you can control all these things but he needs a basic lesson in economics. Perhaps he should remember what labours own industry minister has said. In an effort, this is what he said. Labour minister sat in the government with him in the last government in an effort to appeal to tribal socialism and a minority in the country, hes put at risk millions of jobs. Is put up a sign over the country, dont invest here. That is the new left wing labour party. [shouting] mr. Speaker, i do suggest he goes away after Prime Ministers questions and try to work out his position on the energy price freeze. Because initially he said the policy was nuts. And he said on monday that it struck a chord, and the free the Energy Prices could make a difference. Hes got no idea what he thinks about this. Now, why are Energy Prices so high . Once again he didnt answer the question. I want to remind him, i want to remind them of the work of a previously of the opposition who said this. When the gas prices go up they rushed to pass the costs onto us and yet when the gas prices are coming down we wait a very long time before we see anything coming through on our bills. Mr. Speaker, that was him that said that. Why has he changed his mind . What we need is a more Competitive Energy market that consumers benefit. What he seems to be suffering from is complete, complete amnesia that he was the Energy Secretary. Let me remind them of one of the first acts this government took. We inherited an Energy Policy from him that would have put 179 pounds on every single bill because of his renewable heat initiative. We canceled it. That was his policy. While we are dealing with quote, lets have a guess who said this. Who said this . To deal with the problems of climate change, energy bills are likely to rise. Who said that . Anyone . The last Energy Secretary. Who stood here and pushed our prices again and again and again. Everyone wants low prices. We will get them by dealing with the causes of the low prices instead of a gimmick that collapsed after 12 hours. [shouting] ed miliband. Mr. Speaker, says he wants low prices but prices are going up on his watch. That is the reality. Can he confirm that while his Energy Policy is the cheapest, benefits almost nobody, a fact he didnt deny, a 20 month freeze in bill would save money for 27 million households and 2. 4 million across this country . Twelve hours later he said he might not be able to keep his promise. This isnt a policy. Its a gimmick. The reason its a gimmick is he is in favor of a decarbonization target that would add 125 pounds to everybodys bill. Its obvious why he wants to talk about the cost of living because he hasnt got an Economic Policy anymore. He told us over and over again that if you cut spending you damage Public Services. Not even the bbc disagree with that and he told us over and over again, if you cut spending the economy wont grow. The shadow chancellor said keep going. Let me tell you the best birthday present i could have. The shadow chancellor staying in the shadow cabinet. [shouting] ed miliband. Mr. Speaker [shouting] everyone thank you he said something very interesting. He said he doesnt want to talk about an Economic Policy. He wants to talk about the cost of living. It doesnt matter he doesnt realize come he doesnt realize that Economic Policy is about the cost of living, and hundreds of thousands to millions of families are facing in this country. Whatever you say about his true the forum, where the cost of living crisis in this country. Energy bills are rising and he supports the energy companies, not the consumer. We have a Prime Minister who always stands up for the wrong people. [shouting] we know what is costofliving policy is. It is more spending, more borrowing and more debt. That would lead to higher taxes and higher Mortgage Rates. That is the double whammy that we get every family in this country. But not only have i got a birthday present of the shadow chancellor staying in post, and its a daily i also have this special birthday treat, which is a shadow chancellor yesterday revealed the election campaign. He said it all depends on the two of them together because and i quote, and im not making this up, they would win because of their experience, their track record, and the credibility. [laughter] that is i have to say, mr. Speaker, that is like the captain of the titanic running on his safety record. [laughter] thank you, mr. Speaker. Millions of people using a post Office Account of his contract is due to expire in 18 months. Its vital for these people and the future of post office is continues after 2015. I hope the government ensures that it does. The post Office Card Account has been a great bonus for many people. I think its a help not only for post offices but also particularly elderly people have access to the source of accounts and i look very carefully at what he says. Thank you, mr. Speaker. [inaudible] intervening in the Mortgage Market because banks are failing to provide mortgages so that young people can get on the housing ladder. Now look, the problem we are also intervening by putting everyone on the Lowest Energy tariff. But what the leader of the opposition cant control although he would like to is International Gas prices. He needs a basic lesson in economics and it sounds like the honorable gentleman does, too. Thank you, mr. Speaker. International chemicals argueareused in a variety of dis which a bound version used the widely advertised on the internet. Does my right honorable friend agree with me that action needs to be urgently taken, to prevent the importation of these substances in capsule form where they can only be planned for human consumption . There have been some extra in a series of cases of young people in particular suffering from these sorts of medications that youre able to order on the internet. I look carefully to what she says about whether there is further legislative or regulatory action that can be taken in order to protect people from substances that may be safe in other circumstances it shouldnt be marketed in this way. What is the Prime Minister taking away 7 billion pounds a year of support to children, up to 2015 . We are putting in more support for children. We are providing the childcare not just for fouryearolds and threeyearolds by the childcare for two year old. Weve introduced for the first time a pupil bring them so children from the poorest homes are actually going to get more money following them into school. He shakes his head. Frankly, he should be sitting there in shame at the oecd report that came out yesterday that showed that after a lifetime in education under labour our young people are at the bottom of the league in terms of results. That is what she should be focused on. Order. Its time the house heard from john randall. [shouting] can i draw my right honorable friends attention to the recent report by in real college about the detrimental Health Effects of aircraft noise . And could he make sure that when the government decides, looks at the davis commissions report, that health and environmental considerations are paramount . Well, my right honorable friend hasnt had a chance to speak from the back benches in what he just has and i look forward to hearing many other contributions from him and he brings a huge amount to the south. Hes absolutely right to raise the issue about environmental noise and i can tell him that will be included in the howard davis report and he will be making a speech about this issue since. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Does the Prime Minister think its acceptable since he came to office the number of people claiming jobseekers allowance for more than two years has increased by 390 . What has happened since i became Prime Minister is the number of workers household has gone down to its lowest level. The number of households claiming benefits has gone down. While were at it, issue looks at what is actually happening in the northwest, since the election 18,000 more people employment, 45,000 more people employed in the private sector, unemployment has fallen in the northwest i 7000 since the election. And as i said, she should be talking up her region instead of talking it down. I wonder if the Prime Minister seeks a bbc icm report showing that despite reductions in spending, the majority of people think that Services Provided by local government disagree with me that you can get more for less . When i woke up this month and heard that the bbc was reporting that you can cut public spending and make Public Services better, i thought i had died and gone to heaven for a moment. [laughter] but it is worth looking at and its one of the many pillars of labours policy that has collapsed today. They thought that the public spending cuts would lead to lack of economic growth. The imf show them that is wrong. They thought the public spending cuts would lead to worse services, the bbc, lets praise the bbc for once, told him that is wrong. Thats whats happened today. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Labours child text into will be great for working parents, so said forced johnson to does the Prime Minister a dream . We are helping working parents with childcare and that is what the tax relief on childcare that this government will be introducing will be all about. Thank you, mr. Speaker. In january my constituents was tragically killed when it hit by a driver who had over 10 previous conviction for dangerous driving and was disqualified from driving at the time. Now, over 8000 people signed a petition calling for the law to change the drugs have been convicted of dangerous driving or disqualified should receive tougher since his. Now, will the Prime Minister received his petition and disagree the law should be looked at . I will certainly look at the petition that he talks about and i would like to join my honorable friend and offering my condolences to the friends and families. This is the most appalling crime, as he says, someone with 10 previous convictions who was disqualified at the time driving dangerously and killing two people and stuffing out of their lives. The senseless tenures but as i understand the maximum sentence for a crime like this is 14 years. The government has introduced a new offense of consular looking at this whole area but i can also tell him that justice secretary as the Sentencing Council to review the sentencing guidelines for serious driving offenses. I think we should look at this specific case in the light of that. Thank you, mr. Speaker. A family in my constituency earning 18,000 a year are paying in energy bills. So why is the Prime Minister sizing with energy bosses rather than hardpressed families . I want to see Peoples Energy bills come down. That is why we are legislating to put people on the lowest tariff. That is why were going to go through and see what regulations and rules put in place by the leader of the opposition when he was Energy Secretary, what we can change to keep the builtin but thats what we need a competitive market. Simply making promises that you yourself admit cannot, you cannot meet the next day, that is not proper politics. Does the Prime Minister agree with the cbi whether youre a small, medium or Large Business you have to grow and invest as a business and higher taxes that do not do that . Look, my honorable friend isnt on the right. What we heard at labours conference was that theyre going to put up taxes on some of britains biggest and most successful businesses. Labours message to business is dont invest it, dont bring the jobs are, dont expand your. Go somewhere else. We want to find some petty social skimping against successful big business. That is absolutely wrong for our economy. Order. Question eight. Close question. Mr. Nicholas brown spent my original letter to the primers was about economic development. Question . We are grateful. It is a priority right across government. The Regional Growth Fund is open to great some 66,000 jobs within a business is difficult in the northeast of 330 Million Pounds. We dont want to go back to the previous administrations system but the local growth Cabinet Committee brings together the secretary of state from all the key departments. Is the Prime Minister a were at the comments of health are now consulting on changing the funding formula for health care in the northeast which has the effect of taking some 230 Million Pounds out of the Health Care Budget for the region . Who in government stands up for the north of england . The whole government stands up for the northeast of england. That is why they want some news, youve got a new train plan, youve got expanding, the nutella. Theres plenty of goodness in the northeast but let me answer his question specifically about nhs funding. This years funding for the northeast Clinical Commissioning Group is going up by 170 Million Pounds. That is a to. 3 increase. That is whats happening under this government. Of course, under the labour plan Health Spending would be cut. The Shadow Health secretary, the man they decided and especially to keep in the shadow cabinet has said that increasing hosting and i quote is a responsive. That is the labour do. We dont agree that and thats why were spending more money including in the northeast. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I congratulate the government on any the unfairness on Free School Meals were 1618 yearoldyearold s. Will be transferring outlook to end a similar unfairness where foreign colleges have to pay vat for schools and academies were others dont . Ill look carefully at what my angle friend says. I think it is good that were not going to have the same system on preschool meals for colleges and secondary schools and also think its very welcomed that children and Infants School will be having to pay for school meals as well but i will look carefully at the vat point that he makes. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister will know that im extremely proud member of the trade union in which seeks to stand up for millions of workers and public and private sector. Theres a lot of steps that have been [inaudible] cannot ask what sacrifice can how many families [inaudible] im glad the honorable member stands up as a proud train unionists, and im sure that just as i welcome the reshuffle under Len Mccluskey is delighted with the reshuffle. Probably Len Mccluskey and later opposition wouldnt call it a reshuffle. They would call it a purge because he asked them to be purged and theyve all gone. The fact is it has been tough in our country. It has been difficult in the country because of the appalling deficit and debt that his party left in government. [shouting] mr. David morris. Thank you, mr. Speaker. In my constituency there is a school that is being closed down by the county council. Now ive spoken to Education Sector about this and the in four years. With the Prime Minister assure his office would look into the first place in this particular subject, given that the portfolio holder has said in his opinion the school should be closed, but the consultation hasnt just been completed as of two months ago . Thank you. I will certainly look at the case he makes but under our education reforms theres greater opportunities for schools to gain their independence and for new schools to establish themselves so i hope youll look at all of the structural changes that we made education because they may have in the specific case of this school. Thank you, mr. Speaker. On under this government that cost of childcare has raised their families are facing no should cause of raising success faster than wage than last year. [inaudible] what weve done is extended the hours that people get when they have fouryearolds, extend the hours when people of threeyearolds and for the first time, introduced childcare assistance when people of twoyearolds. That is change under this government. We are also introducing for the first time Property Tax Relief on childcare so that people who work hard and do the right thing can get help with their childcare but i hope when it comes to vote on of the Party Opposite will support this. One month ago i installed this is shown in the last month 65 of the coal she has received have been new since colbert can my right honorable friend committed the government to do all it can to remove this menace including looking at whether health and providers should be profiteering by charging to provide information vital to this . I think my friend makes an important point. Of course, im sure he has advised his constituent about the Telephone Preference Service where you can stock some of the goal for the coming season, so im sure we can look further at what else can be done. On reflection does the Prime Minister a great that allowing greater time for greater diplomatic discussions to take place over syria was preferable to rushing in and bombing the country . I think the fact that america was so clear that it would take action is what brought about a change of heart on behalf of the syrian government. And i think that is the real lesson that we should learn. Thank you, mr. Speaker. One of the biggest factors in many young peoples budget is the cost of the mortgage. Can the Prime Minister tell us what would be the effect on Mortgage Rates if the government were to increase low borrowing by 27 for 9 billion, the opposition has called for since promising discipline . My honorable friend is absolutely right. One of the most important aspects of peoples bills is the mortgage payment that they have to make. And the shadow chancellor is shouting is not true. But he is committed to increasing borrowing. And if you borrow more you risk Interest Rates and Mortgage Rates going up. Families across the country understand that, and they understand you only get Living Standard is gather proper economic plan by getting the deficit down, and getting growth by creating jobs and cutting peoples taxes. My constituent was brutally murdered and his girlfriend gang raped while in sri lanka no two years ago. Just this continues to be denied and the key suspect is a close ally of the sri lankan president it is the Prime Minister comfortable meeting this president at the summit next month . What will he say to him . Im grateful for the honorable gentlemans question that i think it is right for the british Prime Minister to go to the commonwealth conference because were big believers in the commonwealth and making that Organization Work well and, indeed, work for us. But i think its right in going to the commonwealth conference should not hold back and being very clear about this aspect of the human rights record in sri lanka that were not having wet and the begins with the details of the case i will make sure that along with other cases and other arguments those points are properly made. Of course, theres a point you can make if you dont go. Will be Prime Minister welcome the scrap metal act which came in to board, in support of the church, extra taxes will boost treasury revenues, and to make the trains run on time . And he say that about any other piece of legislation . [laughter] spent first of all can i say to the honorable gentleman what pleasure it gives me today to refer to him as my right honorable friend. And on he fully deserves. I do welcome the effects of the scrap metal to which is help to bring revenue into the treasury. It is also helping to deal with this discourage which is a crime which we assume grow in receivers, particularly because of the price of growth and the price of metals. The land off the Whitney Churchill wrote was stolen recently and i know that this is going to help make sure that doesnt happen again. 83 of the beneficiaries of the governments propose marriage tax break will 17 will be when. Why does the Prime Minister have such a blind spot when it comes to womens . I think it is worth supporting marriage for the income tax system. Let me make this challenge to the Party Opposite. In government, they gave a married tax break through the inheritance tax system. They gave a marriage tax break to the rich. I want to get a marriage tax break to everybody. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Does the Prime Minister believe that when the European Union forces my constituents to buy 20 cigarettes at a time rather than their current 10 it will reduce the number they smoke . It doesnt on the face of a sound a very sensible approach. I wasnt aware of this specific issue. Let me have a look and get back to it. Why has he told members of his party behind closed doors that forcing through samesex marriage legislation was a terrible mistake . Well, i have been. Im very proud that we passed samesex marriage in this parliament. Im very proud of the role that i played bring it forward. I think marriage as i just been thinking marriage is a wonderful thing and that is what youre a man or woman or youre a man and demand, and the woman and woman but im very proud of the. Its a great reform. It makes our country more fair and i hope thats clear. Mark reckless. With them now admitting the airport plan has no support, does the primers to welcome the howard davis statement that some plants were not even past space and privately . I dont want him anyway to interfere with what howard davis is doing. I think he is the right person to carry out this report but i think its very important we try and build Cross Party Consensus on the basis that its a good report, a thorough process, and so that all parts will be able to endorse in when the conclusion of the report come out. Order. Here on cspan2 we will leave the british house of commons now as they move onto other legislative business. Youve been watching prime issues question time aired live wednesdays at 7 a. M. Eastern while parliament is in session. You can see this weeks question time again sunday night at nine eastern and pacific on cspan. For more information go to cspan. Org and click on cspan series for Prime Ministers questions, plus links to International News media and legislatures around the world. You can watch recent video encoding programs dealing with other international issues. Today on cspan3, two hearings about the Affordable Care act also known as obamacare. At 9 30 eastern a. M. , the house over 60 looks at the irans role in implementing the health care law. At 1 p. M. Eastern the House Small Business Committee on health and technology looks at how the law affects Small Businesses and parttime workers. You can watch both hearings live on cspan3, and cspan. Org. On monday, the Senate Homeland security and Governmental Affairs Committee Held a hearing on fraud any Social Security Disability Program. An attorney and an administrative judge accused of submitting and approving fraudulent disability claims were called as witnesses refused to testify. It begins with Committee Chairman tom carper. [inaudible conversations] the hearing will come to order. We welcome all of our guests here today. And might want to start at the outset by thinking of dr. Coburn, turn 11, senator mccain, their staffs and our witnesses for the work that you have done, to bring us here to this day. Im going to make a very brief opening statement. Then yielded dr. Coburn for a much longer statement and then ill have some more things to say. I will say this. All of us know we are facing a huge budget deficit in this country. Cut in half from about one point for joining to about 700 billion, still way too much. Its part of the reason why we have this government shut down its in effect even today. There are a number of things we need to continue to do to make sure that we bring down the deficit. We run this country in a fiscally responsible way. I think we have a moral imperative to do what is right, the right thing to do, particularly looking out for the least i in our society. I think also have a fiscal imperative to make sure we meeting that moral imperative in a fiscally financially responsible way. And dr. Coburn and i spent years working together along with senator levin, senator mccain and others on this committee trying to make sure that we are rooting out waste, whether fraud, and to reduce it. And this case i thank dr. Coburn and his staff and others have done terrific work, grateful for and what you can do this time and when you finish i will have somewhere to see. And i think maybe senator levin would like to make a short opening statement. Dr. Coburn. Congratulations for all your good work. Tried one. This is the second inning industries of looking at deficiencies in the Social Security administration having a Social Security comes to our first hearing held in december 2012 look at the weaknesses and decisions made by the agencys administrative people and by the own internal study showed that 22 of those decided in a properly. Him we shall 25 . This afternoon were going to focus on the findings of the twoyear investigation into the huntington West Virginia social studies office disability adjudication review, specifically the investigative report we are releasing in details how one lawyer, one judge and a group of doctors financially benefited by working together to manufacture bogus, fraudulent medical evidence toward disability benefits to over 1800 people. Id like to thank my chairman, tom carper, and the chairme chad Ranking Member of the permanent subcommittee on investigations, senators levin and mccain for the support and the hard work on this investigation. Without the help this hearing would not be possible. But before we get into the findings of our investigation i want to extend a thank you to you for courageous ladies sitting in front of us at this time. Republics only survive when courage is demonstrated on the basis of character, sound morals, integrity and honor. And each of them have demonstrated that to this committee, the investigators and i think the public will see that as their stories are told to these women, jamie slone, melinda morton, sara carver and Jennifer Griffith saw the Disability Programs being exploited and were brave enough to bring their story to the committee. I commend all the and hope others will take of your example to speak of when you see wrongdoing whether its in sources 30 or any other agency of the federal government. Congress needs to know whether problems are in our government so they can be addressed and hopefully changed for the benefit again, thank you to each of you for traveling to washington to tell your story. I very much look forward to hearing from you. The issues were going to discuss development of our countries current problems began and began with congress to only hear it would take something as important as the soldiers could Disability Program and let politics her to those most in need. By this i mean that for a long Time Congress has acted getting people onto the program is more important than doing oversight of the program. In practical terms this has meant pushing ssa to eliminate a backlog willful interest on how that is performed. This point was driven home clearly the last time the Senate Considered a nominee to head the agency. During the 2007 confirmation process, former commissioner, many senders use the chance to criticize how long it took for claimants to get a hearing. In response he pledged to reduce the backlog and wait hundred and. And we saw the results. Shortly after he was confirmed, the agency rolled out an aggressive plan to reduce the backlog. At bottom a backlog when asked Agency Employees to do more faster. Agency hired more aljs to carry loaded also pressured the aljs to decide more cases by spending less time on each case. As part of the plan ssa push all aljs to decide when five and 700 cases per year, many of which contain thousands of pages of medical evidence. The agency also went so far as to set daily goals. And 20112012 each alj would decide to put some cases they just be the process for the judges were encouraged to skip hearings altogether and just write opinions it felt was wanted to the agency make clear that moving a high volume of cases was the top priority. On the surface, the plant. To work. Over the next few years the agency saw an incredible improvement of time it took to issue a decision by an alj. Wait times for parents dropped from 514 days to as few as 353 days by 2012. The number of alj decisions likewise increased from roughly75,000 in 2008, to more than 820,000 in 2012. A 43 increase. By february 2011 Commission Found an ounce under his watch the agency had reversed trends an increasing backlog in the disability workloads. Quote unquote. With so much emphasis on the quantico and Agency Attention to oversight of the alj decisions diminish. The reports committee releasing today details how much quality decisions suffered in one particular office, as is a huntington, West Virginia, office. The report describes how one lawyer and several judges and a group of doctors to get finish of the situation and exploited the program for the own personal benefit. Together thing of hundreds of claims onto the disability rolls based on manufactured medical evidence and boilerplate decisions. As a result of his for millions of dollars and had bad behavior ignored. Alj at the center of this mess was judged david b. Daugherty. Over the course of his tenure with the agency became one of the most prolific aljs in the country. During 2010 the last full year he decided cases, judge daugherty was the third highest producing alj out of more than 1500 aljs at ssa. In that year alone he decided 1375 cases, and awarded benefits in 1371. With an approval rate of 99. 7. He denied only for cases but he was outgunned only by Frederick Mcgrath of atlanta, georgia, decided 3200 cases and charles bridges of harrisburg, pennsylvania, who approved 1855 cases. Many of judge towards peers question how it was possible to decide so many cases when most others struggled to finish a third. When asked by fellow alj how he was deciding such a high volume of cases, judge daugherty responded, youre just going to have to learn which corners to cut. To cut those corners our investigation found that judge daugherty focus on cases from one attorney, eric c. Conn of the conn law firm. Selfdescribed multimillion at the mr. Collins law office is located in stand of kentucky this practice focus almost entirely on client is seeking sources could disability benefits, early on mr. Conn became known for his aggressive marketing, with billboards throughout the stand bill and eastern kentucky. Witness interviewed by the can you said you could not listen to the rate or watch Television Without seeing his commercial. By all accounts his Marketing Efforts were. By 2010 mr. Conn was the third highest paid disability at turning in the country, despite working in and with only 500 people. In 2010 to mr. Conn received almost 4 million attorneys fees and agency. The own other attorneys receiving more from ssa were Charles Binder of the blind and binder firm, which received 22 million, and thomas of chicago who received 6. 3 million. However, as our investigation uncovered there is much more to the story and mr. Conns advertising. Mr. Conn, judge daugherty and several doctors carried out a sophisticated plan to ensure claimants would be approved for disability, relying on questionable and in my opinion fraudulent methods. We will turn next to the plan they carried out. For the plan to succeed at the top priority was getting mr. Conns cases in front of judge daugherty. Generally whenever a claim is denied benefits and then appeals to an alj, Social Security Administration Since the case to whichever office is closest to where the claimant lives. This protects claimants who might otherwise have to travel great distances which can be difficult for someone who is disabled. Mr. Conn discovered a way to ensure that his cases would always go to the huntingdon office. He would require his clients to sign a waiver requesting the cases instead go to ssas prestonsburg kentucky office, excel and office of huntingdon office. Which was noted, located near the conn law office. The prestonsburg during office staff by hunting aljs to travel there once a month and so no matter where the claimant lived is the claim would be assigned to huntington alj on appeal. Directing the cases from there to judge daugherty would take additional effort. In the normal course agency rules would require cases to be assigned to aljs on a rotational basis with the oldest cases assigned with a hearing date first but yet at the moment a case arrived in office but before it was designed judge daugherty would at times intercept mr. Collins cases and assigned them to him so biggest case of what happened to slip past and get assigned to another judge, judge daugherty would go into the Computer System and move the case to his docket. Summoning ssa office began to knows what happened and brought to the attention of the office of chief judge charles andrus. Despite having the issue brought to him repeatedly over a period of 10 years, judge anderson never once stopped this procedure. By approving a large one of mr. Conns case, judge daugherty met his agency mandated monthly quota with very little effort. According to documents and Committee Issues each month of judge daugherty and mr. Conn would coordinate on a list of his clients. The key was he would only approve mr. Collins client provides the judge clients if he provided the judge with one additional piece of evidence that showed they were disabled. And so every month judge daugherty would call mr. Kahns office to let him not just what kind of evidence he needed for each client. On the call judge daugherty would start by relying the name associates pretty number of each person he was ready to approve. He would then say whether the new piece of evidence should relate to a mental or physical impairment. The list would then be typed up and saved on computers at the conn law firm. Mr. Conn staff referred these motherless as the db lists after judge doris naisbitt, db geordie. The committee obtained db list from june 2006 through july 2010. The list contains as many as 52 climates each month in total the db list from that time contained 1823 people who were approved for disability benefits. After judge daugherty told mr. Conn the kite medical evidence he needed, the next step for mr. Conn words to ensure a doctor provide. For joyful mr. Conn he had a crew of paid doctors would to provide what he needed. Mr. Conn search the internet for doctors with checkered or difficult past to those in his circle at his use of malpractice, medical license revoked and hospital privileges suspended. Until his death in 2010, mr. Conns go to doctor for physical ailments was doctor hufnagel. Doctor hufnagel was a subject of multiple malpractice suits, had his medical license revoked and hospital privileges revoked in other states. Since doctor hufnagel live four hours away from mr. Conn arrange for them to come to town for two days each month and examine his clients in a medical suite in his law office. Clients were scheduled for exams in 15 minute blocks and the doctor would meet up to 35 clients per day. The medical report doctor hufnagel gave mr. Conn was modest at best. Doctor hufnagel as was the other would provide grief reports about the visits in a form describing the claimants residual functional capacity but thats an important term that we need to be aware of during the hearing. Second form is calmly known as the rnc and is a key document is by all Social Security judges. A residual functional capacity describes claims limitation in performing any job i in the national economy. The Agency Standard intern with a claimant was entitled to benefits. To understand the problem with rfc so that by dr. Huffnagle its important to understand what they contain. For each claimant the odyssey as the doctor determine a few basic things. The amount the clinic would lift or carry, the number of hours the claimant could sit, stand or walk in an eighthour workday. The rc also required that the doctor determine how often the clinic to perform 22 of activities by marking one of four inches, never occasionally, frequently or constantly. Giving the vast range of answer, dr. Huffnagle could provide on this form without the claimant would be nearly impossible for the claims to be found with the exact same limitations. This is a twohour yet somehow dr. Huffnagle found devastations almost always had the exact same limitations. 90 of the time, dr. Huffnagle signed one of just 15 different variations of form. For just one version the frequency signed, dr. Huffnagle reported 97 claimants had exactly the same limitations. This was no coincidence. Our investigainvestiga tion found that this was a plan and a step process for getting mr. Conns clients onto disability. Mr. Conn had developed 15 versions of the rfc completely filled out before any doctor visit took place. He cycle through them to sign one of these 15 prefilled rfc two people in order that they came to his door. Had no connection to the disabled. Even if it had no connection. The only thing that changed with the name associates pretty number on the top of the page. Mr. Conn forwarded the opinion and the rc to judge daugherty. Well agency rules require aljs to carefully review a claimants entire file, and write a comprehensive decision, judge daugherty did otherwise. Based on the decision we reviewed, his opinions would routinely cite only a single piece of evidence, namely the reports from mr. Conns documents, as such his opinions were much shorter and less detailed than those of other aljs. Almost all of them included a boilerplate paragraph that concluded with the following quote. Having considered all the evidence and satisfied that the information provided by dr. Huffnagle, most accurately reflects the claims independence and limitations, therefore the claimant is limited to less than Sedentary Work at best. This is remarkable for two reasons. One, a claimants caseload could be hundreds of pages if not thousands long. For a judge to say the only piece of evidence worth looking at is the one paid for by the claimant lawyer is absurd. Secondly before a claimant ever gets to the alj most of already being evaluated and denied by the agency twice. Professionals who do this all day every day, and have dedicated their lives to it. In the opinions we reviewed, judge daugherty rarely strayed from a basic format that most of the decisions were identical to one another with only small portions change. As such he was able to write a lot of decisions with little effort. While dr. Hunt michael passed away in 2010, the same rfc forms that he signed continue to be submitted by other doctors. Several of them we will hear from today. We reviewed 100 to rfc signed by doctor harris, 94 were identical to the rcs that dr. Huffnagle centric of the 10 artists use we reviewed signed by dr. Ammisetty, nine were identical to the preformed feels by dr. Huffnagle. Identical forms were signed by doctor sami mr. Conns clients or mental impairment. For these mr. Conn often send his clients to see dr. Bradley adkins and doctor atkins would meet with clients write up a short report and submit a mental rfc. This rfc require doctor atkins to rank the claim with regard to 15 different abilities such as auto work rules, behaving most instrument but the former by doctor atkins drank the ability following them unlimited, good, fair pour on them. Once again find two identical odysseys should be next to impossible to get we found that 74 of the rfc is signed by dr. Adkins are one of just five different forms. These five forms came from mr. Conns office already filled out. Dr. Adkins told a the committee investors that he routinely signed. Only the names and Social Security numbers were changed as just as before judge daugherty would cite only these documents. It would be useful now to turn back to the issue of why these individuals did what they did. The short answer is that each of them, mr. Conn, his doctors, judge daugherty and judge enters benefit into the ways both personally and financially. Mr. Conn made millions, claimants on the db list from 20062010, four years, mr. Conn was paid over 4. 5 million by the Social Security administration and attorney fees. In 2010 alone he earned over 3. 9 million for all of his cases, including those from judge daugherty. Mr. Conns doctors also benefited handsomely. Mr. Conn paid his doctors up to six and 50 per claimant, helping to earn considerable fees and my testimony that would have sometimes been less than 10 to 15 minutes with them. For the four years Records Committee of game mr. Conn paid dr. Huffnagle almost 1 million, doctor herb was paid more than 6000, dr. Adkins over 200,000. Judge daugherty took full advantage of this. The running joke in hundred and office was it was to find judge daugherty, dont bother looking in his office. When others combined a bunch of shrieking fans of time and attendance rules, the agency looked the other way. Is big numbers effectively let judge daugherty do whatever he wanted. Finally, at the as the junta and office rose to be the most second office, Office Management and alj received salary increases. Some of the Office Management even received bonuses for their productivity. Judge and has received National Recognition when he was tabbed by the agency to mentor other aljs across the country and then promoted to assistant regional chief administered logic. While lawyers and doctors were getting rich by exploiting a broken program, the real victims with a claimants and the american taxpayer. The claimants suffer because we dont do any favors when we wrongly awarded benefits, and we will certainly hurt those who justifiably are receiving those benefits when the trust fund runs out of money probably in less than 18 months. At the same time the american taxpayer suffers. For just the claimants listed on the db list, judge daugherty approved 560 million in lifetime benefits. For all his cases judge daugherty awarded to. 5 billion in the last six years. Probably the most troubling issues our investigation uncovered, however, is what happens when the details of this plan started to become public. In may 2011 a reporter with the wall street journal ran a story about the relationship with mr. Conn and judge daugherty. Along with judge andrus, mr. Conn and judge daugherty responded by giving up what appears to be an elaborate example to cover up the truth from the Social Security administration and the american people. After the story ran, judge daugherty and mr. Conn made the unusual decision to speak with each other only using prepaid disposable cell phones. We were told by mr. Conns former employees this was to keep the conversations from being recorded. For his part, judge andrus conspired with mr. Conn to retaliate against ms. Carver, one of our witnesses today, who believes she was behind a wall street journal article. Their plan was to follow and film ms. Carver on the day she was working from home in an attempt to get her fired for violating agency telecommuting rules. Despite several attempts they were never able to find ms. Carver ever doing anything wrong. Once the agency discovered what was going on, they placed judge andrus on administrative leave. Final troubling finding was a system of destruction of documents. Once allegations began to surface publicly. Both mr. Conn and the agency, the agency took the unusual steps to destroy documents, potential related to a known open congressional investigation. After the wall street journal Article Committee found that mr. Conn had hired a local shredding company to destroy over 3 million pages of documents. Is former employees informed as he shredded all copies of the db list along with a warehouse full of files. Yet another employee destroyed all the office can get on with the hard drives and a massive bonfire. Ms. Slone note the number of emails from judge daugherty to mr. Conn mysteriously went missing. The agency for its part could not find any of judge daughertys emails either. While mr. Conn was a strong document from the Agency Approved the purchase of personal shredded for the office of huntingtons management. Keep in mind this in kurt this occurred in the middle of a congressional investigation when the agency was legally obligated to preserve all relevant documents. Senator levin and i immediately passed the local ssa office of Inspector General agents to seize the shredders, which they did. While Huntington Management about an office under investigation by personal shredders is the question that needs to be answered. My office asked the top judge one in approved the purchase. He said he hadnt even considered that it might be a problem. This is a judge. Its unacceptable. We can lose sight of while of why were here today. The bipartisan twoyear investigation shows that Congress Need to update laws and regulations, governing Social Security Disability Programs. Judge daugherty, mr. Conn and the doctors could stretch into my mind broke all agency rules. But attorneys using doctors to provide bogus medical evidence is not just isolated to mr. Conn or even huntington, West Virginia. Just last year i released a report that found the same thing happening in three other officers. And much like i begin, i will end by noting that Congress Continues to be the problem. With the clock to get on the Agencies Trust fund, some in congress refuse to acknowledge the display programs are broken and in dire need of significant oversight. People who are truly disabled will pay the price of our dithering. One simple reform that would make a big difference is including professionals from the Social Security administration to represent the government and ultimately the american taxpayer in decisions made i aljs. This reform would bring a needed balance to both hearings and decisions at the ale joe theyll get level of you which is especially true now that most claimants have representation as we learned in our previous report, some claimant attorneys withheld evidence from the alj shown that the claimants condition has improved. A government representative would make sure no such information is overlooked. While the aljs task is also ribs and with the government, its clearly outnumbered. Determine if an individual is malingering or lying about their symptoms. The ssa oig. Determines the agency stands alone with not using the mmpi with others finding it a useful tool. Academics and the medical community at large. I hope todays findings encourage others to take a hard look at
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