Martin O'Malley, head of Social Security Administration, addresses agency's future, correcting issues
BALTIMORE - You work all your adult life and pay into a system that is supposed to pay you when you need it the most in retirement.
But, many people don't know how Social Security works, and even more, don't know that the powerful agency is located in Baltimore.
WJZ anchor Vic Carter spoke exclusively with the head of the Social Security Administration Martin O'Malley, the former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor.
O'Malley gave WJZ unprecedented access to parts of the Social Security Administration that few people have ever seen, some of which we can't show to protect privacy and the inner workings of this massive agency.
Vic Carter: How do you break this down in terms of what it means to the average American, the average Marylander? What does all of this mean to them?
Martin O'Malley: So, we hope it's all about customer service and all those benefits they have spent their whole life working for, making sure someone answers that 800 number without having to be on hold for an hour and a half, making sure that you or someone in your family needs to have a determination made, that you are so disabled that you can't work that that happens before you die.
Head of the Social Security Administration
O'Malley bounds around the massive sprawling complex of buildings at the Social Security Administration in Woodlawn like a man on a mission.
He is appointed to the post of commissioner of the Social Security Administration by President Biden. It's not lost on him the magnitude and the importance of his job.
Vic Carter: Is it pretty amazing to you that you're here doing this? You've been the mayor of Baltimore, the governor of the state and now the commissioner for Social Security Administration.
Martin O'Malley: I would never have dreamed, I would never have guessed, this was not a card I ever would have picked up from the table, but I was honored when the White House called and asked me to do it, because think about it, I get to travel 22 minutes in the morning across Northern Parkway to be able to serve in the national headquarters of the Social Security Administration, which serves 80 million Americans.
O'Malley has a workforce of more than 54,000 employees, 8,000 of those in the Baltimore region, and 1,500 facilities across the country and around the world.
His budget for benefits paid out and operations is second only to that of the Department of Defense.
Correcting long wait times
As big as that seems, it's still not enough.
A staffing shortage is resulting in long wait times when clients call SSA, and even longer to get some benefits, something O'Malley is working to correct.
Martin O'Malley: I've visited all nine regions of the country within my first two weeks in January. I sat side-by-side with people on the co-pilot headphones and the teleservice centers. So I heard those angry calls with people waiting on hold for an hour, or sitting on the other side of the plexiglass from a grandmother who's frightened because her grandson's SSI benefits are about to be predetermined.
"There will be a benefit"
There are more Americans now, 30,000 per year who die, waiting for their initial disability determination to be made by one of these 50 state offices.
Vic Carter: Many Marylanders, as well as people across the country, are concerned that Social Security will not have longevity, that it won't be available when they need it. What do you say to them?
Martin O'Malley: We face a depletion event. It doesn't mean that Social Security would go bankrupt. I know that a lot of the headlines, screens, and clickbait stuff, that you see on social media says it'll never be there for you. Heck, when I was in college, my friends and I used to tell each other, it won't be there for us. And now I'm two years away from being able to apply for social security. So it's it is an elegantly simple program, in this respect, that so long as Americans are working and paying into Social Security, there will be a benefit.
"Baltimore's future can be bright"
Although O'Malley is in a federal position, he is still a local boy.
For him, this job, as massive as it is, is still personal. He lives here. This is home.
Martin O'Malley: I believe that Baltimore's future can be bright but we have to choose to make it bright. We have to embrace the truth of our current situation. And then we have to move forward again. I think we have a bad habit sometimes of falling into a culture of failure and excuses.
In Baltimore since 1936
The Social Security Administration has been headquartered in Baltimore since 1936, originally at the Candler Building on Pratt Street at the Inner Harbor.
Every baby born in America gets their Social Security number from the Social Security office, located on Wabash Avenue, in Baltimore.
