Mary Ellen McCarthy is both a
staff attorney with the House
Veterans Affairs Committee
and an aide to Congressman
Lane Evans who will be leaving
office at the end of this
session.

Attorney McCarthy made an
appearance before the VA
Disability Commission at
their full member session
at Arlington VA from May 18
to 19 and was granted a
few minutes as a panel
member to argue down the
anticipated Motion vote
which was to occur regarding
the issue of the Commission
doing data collection from
the SSDI program.

On behalf of Lane Evan's
Office, Attorney McCarthy
ably argued a series of
points against the proposed
data collection, also noting
herself as someone who formerly
practiced Social Security Law herself.

She read an email she had
received from a combat Veteran
where he expressed his fears
and frustration with the
many issues coming from the
VA arena. She used the letter
to underscore the level of
fear and anguish which the
VA Commission was causing in
our community. Expressly warning
the Commission, she said
"you should pay attention to that..."
referring to the national worry
and fear levels that Veterans
are facing.

She went on to make some
legal points, taking an opposition
position against other Congressional
letters which the Commission
had already received on the
SSDI data collection issue.

She told the Commission that
she was unable to find any
statute of authority which
gave the Commission jurisdiction
to cross into the Social Security
realm of benefits evaluation
or comparison. She also argued
that perhaps a breach of Privacy
Rights may also be at play.

While the Commission went on
to approve the vote based on
the other congressional letters
they had recieved, they thanked
Attorney McCarthy for coming
all the way over to the hearings
to make her appearance there.