Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise in strong support of the nomination of former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to be the next Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. The Social Security Administration is confronting a consumer service crisis. Today, SSA is serving 50 percent more customers and beneficiaries with the same staffing it had in 1995. This has resulted in unacceptable service delays, including 37-minute average hold times on the 800 number and as much as a 2-year wait for disability determinations and appeals. The American people deserve better. Recall that about 66 million Americans--one in five--receive some benefit from Social Security each year. Governor Martin O'Malley is the strong operational leader the Social Security Administration needs right now. He has demonstrated time and again that by focusing on performance management, smart government, and data-driven results, he can bring change and accountability to large organizations and significantly improve government service for the American people. His leadership credentials include decades of public service, including two terms each as mayor of Baltimore and then Governor of Maryland. I saw his hands-on approach firsthand as a longtime Baltimore resident. I was at city hall when Governor O'Malley set up CitiStat when he was mayor. This is a novel approach I had never seen really carried out by a chief executive of a city.…”