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'Despicable': Trump Official Threatens Total Social Security Shutdown Over DOGE Ruling
"Rather than comply with a lawful court order, he wants to see millions of families, retirees, and disabled individuals go hungry, suffer, and potentially lose their homes all to curry favor with anti-worker billionaires."
Mar 21, 2025
Defenders of the Social Security Administration on Friday blasted acting Commissioner Leland Dudek's threat to shut down the agency in response to a federal judge cutting off the Department of Government Efficiency's access to SSA data.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander wrote Thursday that "the DOGE team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA." She issued a temporary restraining order targeting affiliates of the government-gutting entity created by Republican President Donald Trump and led by Big Tech CEO Elon Musk, the richest person on the planet.
While the advocacy and labor groups behind the lawsuit celebrated the order from Hollander—who was appointed to the District of Maryland by former President Barack Obama—Dudek responded to the ruling with a threat to shut down the agency entirely.
"My anti-fraud team would be DOGE affiliates. My IT staff would be DOGE affiliates," Dudek told Bloomberg. "As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems."
"Now, like a child who didn't get his way, he is threatening to shut down Social Security."
Dudek—who is leading the SSA until the U.S. Senate decides whether to confirm Trump's nominee, former Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano—said he would ask the judge to immediately clarify her order, adding: "Really, I want to turn it off and let the courts figure out how they want to run a federal agency."
Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)—which filed the suit with the Alliance for Retired Americans and the American Federation of Teachers—said in a Friday statement that "for almost 90 years, Social Security has never missed a paycheck—but 60 days into this administration, Social Security is now on the brink."
"Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek has proven again that he is in way over his head, compromising the privacy of millions of Americans, shutting down services that senior citizens rely on, and planning debilitating layoffs, all in service to Elon Musk's lies," he continued. "Now, like a child who didn't get his way, he is threatening to shut down Social Security. Rather than comply with a lawful court order, he wants to see millions of families, retirees, and disabled individuals go hungry, suffer, and potentially lose their homes all to curry favor with anti-worker billionaires. It's despicable."
"Even for this administration, this is a new low. Project 2025 didn't dare mention Social Security, but we always knew they would put it on the table," he added, citing a Heritage Foundation-led blueprint for remaking the government. "We've fought back efforts by anti-union extremists and billionaires to privatize and gut Social Security before, and we'll do it again. Workers paid into this program; it belongs to us."
Groups that are not part of the case also took aim at Dudek on Friday. Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, called the threat "to hold hostage" the earned benefits of over 70 million people "inexcusable" and "yet another example of the Trump administration's hostility to American seniors."
"Dudek is throwing a temper tantrum—claiming that if DOGE can't access American's data, neither can anyone else," he said. "No one in the federal government has the breadth of access to data that Elon Musk has demanded. Social Security employees' access is compartmentalized and only made available on a 'need-to-know' basis, and those with access to the data go through rigorous screening, training, and are subject to fines and/or jail time for violating this policy."
Richtman asserted that "Musk's continued effort to justify his actions by doubling down on thoroughly debunked claims of 'massive fraud' at SSA are being laid bare as a mere pretext for acquiring every American's personal information—which could then be used as weapons against anyone who disagrees with the Trump administration's actions."
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, declared that "Dudek's leadership has been the darkest in Social Security's nearly 90-year history. He has sown chaos and destruction... His highest loyalty is to Elon Musk and Donald Trump, not to the beneficiaries that the agency is meant to serve. Singlehandedly, he has taken the security out of Social Security."
"Members of Congress who remain silent are complicit. The Trump-nominated commissioner, who will have his confirmation hearing next week, is no better. In fact, he proudly calls himself 'a DOGE person,'" she warned of Bisignano.
"Every member of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, must condemn the destruction of our Social Security system and demand that the Trump administration follow Judge Hollander's order," Altman added. "They must make it clear that no president—even one who thinks he is a king—can shut down our Social Security system."
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Official Installed by Trump Moves to 'Demolish' Social Security Administration
"This is nothing more than a backdoor benefit cut and an insult to Americans who have paid into the system and earned their Social Security—all to pay for trillions in new tax cuts for the wealthy," said Democratic Rep. John Larson.
Feb 27, 2025
The acting leader of the Social Security Administration reportedly instructed managers earlier this week to draw up plans for a 50% cut to the agency's workforce, a push that advocates and lawmakers said would result in the gutting or total closure of local field offices—and likely benefit disruptions.
The American Prospect first reported the request from Leland Dudek, whom Trump installed as SSA commissioner earlier this month after the agency's former head resigned following a clash with Elon Musk's deputies over their attempts to access highly sensitive personal data. At the time he was elevated to the helm of SSA, Dudek was under investigation for allegedly sharing information with Musk's team improperly.
According to the Prospect, the deadline for SSA managers to comply with Dudek's request for mass-firing plans was Wednesday afternoon.
"The decision could target one of the government's most prominent public-facing initiatives: SSA field offices, where seniors, people with disabilities, and survivors whose parents have died can sign up for benefits and get information," the outlet noted. "In an email to the Prospect, SSA would not confirm any reductions in its workforce beyond the abolition of two small internal offices announced this week... Sources have speculated to the Prospect that the terminations are being done piecemeal to avoid headlines of tens of thousands of jobs lost."
"Laying off half of the workforce at the Social Security Administration and shuttering field offices will mean the delay, disruption, and denial of benefits."
Nancy Altman, president of the progressive advocacy group Social Security Works, said in a statement Wednesday that Dudek's push for large-scale staff cuts shows the Trump administration and Elon Musk want to "demolish" SSA.
"Contrary to what Elon Musk and his acolytes may believe, AI chatbots are no substitute for in-person service from a human being," said Altman. "Americans apply for Social Security benefits at the most vulnerable times of their lives. Moreover, many people who seek information may have trouble articulating or even knowing what questions they need to ask."
"If Musk's plan goes through, it will deny many Americans access to their hard-earned Social Security benefits. Field offices around the country will close. Wait times for the 1-800 number will soar," Altman warned. "DOGE claims to be concerned about fraud, but the best way to detect fraud is through face-to-face contacts with humans who can detect suspicious responses and can read body language. It's not too late to stop this disaster. We urge everyone to call their members of Congress and tell them that local Social Security offices must stay open and fully staffed."
In the wake of the Prospect's story, Government Executivereported that five of the eight regional SSA commissioners "whose offices oversee and support the agency's frontline offices across the country" have decided to leave their posts at the end of this week amid the Trump administration's onslaught against the federal workforce.
"Their departures come amid rumors of impending staff cuts at SSA, where the workforce is already at a 50-year low and has toiled amid a customer service crisis born of lack of funding," Government Executive noted. "Decades of congressional neglect have seen the agency's administrative budget, which for decades sat at 1.2% of benefit outlays, shrink to under 1%."
The outlet added that "regional commissioners aren't the only ones leaving SSA. An unknown number of other employees are also leaving the agency, which shuttered its civil rights and transformation offices this week."
Martin O'Malley, the former Maryland governor who served as SSA commissioner under the Biden administration, wrote late Wednesday that "Social Security is being driven to a total system collapse."
"I give the DOGE kids and co-President Musk 30-90 days before they crater it to the point of interruption of benefits," O'Malley added.
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), a champion of Social Security and vocal supporter of expanding benefits, said in a statement that "Donald Trump pledged no cuts to Social Security on the campaign trail, but now he and Elon Musk have plans to do exactly that."
"Let me be clear—laying off half of the workforce at the Social Security Administration and shuttering field offices will mean the delay, disruption, and denial of benefits," said Larson. "This is nothing more than a backdoor benefit cut and an insult to Americans who have paid into the system and earned their Social Security—all to pay for trillions in new tax cuts for the wealthy. This has nothing to do with 'governmental efficiency.'"
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'Outrageous Lies': Claiming Fraud, Trump Floats Kicking Millions Off Social Security
"They are laying the groundwork for denying benefits to anyone they want to punish or deem unworthy—or indeed, any one of us," said the president of Social Security Works.
Feb 19, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump launched his latest threat against Social Security on Tuesday under the guise of combating fraud, floating the possibility of stripping benefits from "millions of people" as Elon Musk's lieutenants infiltrate the agency that administers the nation's most effective anti-poverty program.
"The good thing about Social Security and what I read is if you take all of those numbers off because they're obviously fraudulent or incompetent... all of a sudden we have a very powerful Social Security with people 80 and 70 and 90 but not 200 [years old]."
"We have millions and millions of people over 100 years old" who are receiving Social Security payments, Trump continued.
The Republican president did not provide any evidence for his claim of substantial fraud in the Social Security program, which provides benefits to roughly 70 million Americans. Musk has similarly claimed, without evidence, that "tens of millions of people [are] marked in Social Security as 'ALIVE' when they are definitely dead."
Watch Trump's comments:
Trump: We have millions and millions of people over 100 years old. Everybody knows that's not so. We have a very corrupt country, a very corrupt country. The good thing about Social Security and what I read is if you take all of those numbers off because they're obviously… pic.twitter.com/OwwxJ6difQ
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 18, 2025
A 2024 report from SSA's inspector general found that just 0.84% of the $8.6 trillion in Social Security benefits paid out between 2015 and 2022 were dispensed improperly. Trump recently fired the SSA inspector general, along with more than a dozen other agency watchdogs.
Nancy Altman, president of the progressive advocacy group Social Security Works, told Common Dreams on Wednesday that Trump's remarks about purported Social Security fraud were "outrageous lies."
"Social Security has vanishingly small amounts of fraud, which are generally quickly uncovered when the agency is adequately funded," said Altman. "Trump and Musk are intentionally undermining confidence in our Social Security system. They are laying the groundwork for denying benefits to anyone they want to punish or deem unworthy—or indeed, any one of us."
On Tuesday, Fox News aired a joint interview with Trump and Musk in which the president pledged that "Social Security won't be touched... other than if there's fraud or something."
"We're going to find it," Trump added.
"Musk’s baseless claims of massive fraud are a poorly disguised pretext to cut benefits for seniors to pay for his giant tax cut."
The Associated Pressreported that "over the past few days, President Donald Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk have said on social media and in press briefings that people who are 100, 200, and even 300 years old are improperly getting benefits—a 'HUGE problem,' Musk wrote."
But AP noted that "as of September 2015, the agency automatically stops payments to people who are older than 115 years old."
The outlet added that "part of the confusion comes from Social Security's software system based on the COBOL programming language, which has a lack of date type. This means that some entries with missing or incomplete birthdates will default to a reference point of more than 150 years ago."
Trump's latest attack on the Social Security system came after the SSA's acting commissioner resigned this past weekend over a clash with Musk lieutenants who sought access to highly sensitive Social Security data.
Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at the Groundwork Collaborative, said in a statement Tuesday that "despite President Trump's promise not to touch Social Security, Elon Musk has gained access to the system that cuts your grandmother's Social Security check and is wreaking havoc."
"Musk's baseless claims of massive fraud," Jacquez added, "are a poorly disguised pretext to cut benefits for seniors to pay for his giant tax cut."
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