By Josh Hicks March 16 at 6:00 AM

This week promises to be an interesting one on the Hill, with several congressional panels planning to examine recent hot-button issues. Below are the Federal Eye’s top picks for hearings you don’t want to miss.

Monday: Questionable Social Security numbers

The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee will focus on questionable Social Security numbers, specifically how they can lead to fraud and waste.

An inspector general’s report last week saying that 6.5 million active Social Security numbers belong to people who are at least 112 years old and likely deceased, with thousands of the numbers being used for employment verification through the government’s E-Verify system.

Federal auditors proposed that the Social Security Administration take steps to correct its death records, but the agency said it doesn’t want to divert resources away from efforts to improve payment accuracy.

A senior adviser from the agency’s quality and management division is scheduled to testify at Monday’s hearing, along with the inspector general and the White House Office of Management and Budget controller.

Tuesday: Secret Service

Secret Service chief Joseph Clancy is scheduled to testify about the agency’s 2016 budget request, but lawmakers are bound to ask the newly appointed director about the organization’s latest embarrassment.

A pair of Washington Post reports last week revealed that agents drove into a White House security barricade and disrupted an active bomb investigation, possibly while under the influence.

The incident comes after a string of security lapses and misconduct problems for the Secret Service, including a drone that recently crashed on the White House lawn, a knife-carrying fence jumper who made it far into the building before being apprehended, and the agency’s 2012 prostitution scandal in Colombia.

Thursday: Immigration

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldaña is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about how the Department of Homeland Security is dealing with illegal immigrants.

The hearing comes weeks after Congress’s standoff over Homeland Security funding, in which Republicans threatened to shut down the department unless President Obama agreed to halt recent executive actions that would shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.

A federal judge last month ordered a temporary hold on the plans after dozens of states joined a lawsuit to stop them from moving forward. The Obama administration is appealing the decision.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...d-immigration/