An indication for the U.S. Social Safety Administration is seen exterior its headquarters in Woodlawn, Md., on Thursday, March 20, 2025.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Name, Inc. | Getty Pictures
The Social Safety Administration’s appearing commissioner reversed his stance late Friday after telling a number of information shops {that a} new courtroom ruling could require him to close down the company’s operations.
Performing Commissioner Lee Dudek mentioned in a written assertion that the courtroom “issued clarifying steerage” about its earlier short-term restraining order barring members of the Trump administration’s DOGE staff from accessing non-public information.
“Due to this fact, I’m not shutting down the company,” he mentioned. “SSA workers and their work will proceed underneath the TRO.”
On Thursday, a federal choose briefly blocked the cost-cutting initiative often known as the Division of Authorities Effectivity from accessing people’ private information on the Social Safety Administration. Dudek mentioned in interviews afterward that the ruling could require him to chop off entry to all of the company’s workers.
“The whole lot on this company is [personally identifiable information],” Dudek instructed The Washington Put up on Friday. “Except I get clarification, I will simply begin to shut it down. I haven’t got a lot of a selection right here.”
In her ruling, choose Ellen Lipton Hollander barred Social Safety Administration workers together with Dudek from granting the DOGE staff entry to info that can be utilized to determine people. DOGE is just not a Cupboard division, and its chief, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, is taken into account a particular authorities worker.
Hollander additionally ordered DOGE staff members to delete all non-anonymized personally identifiable info they’ve accessed “straight or not directly” since Jan. 20.
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Following the ruling, Dudek mentioned the courtroom order is so broad that it might apply to any Social Safety worker, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
“My anti-fraud staff can be DOGE associates. My IT employees can be DOGE associates,” Dudek instructed Bloomberg. “Because it stands, I’ll comply with it precisely and terminate entry by all SSA workers to our IT programs.”
Nonetheless, in a March 18 letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Dudek mentioned there are solely 11 DOGE-affiliated people on the Social Safety Administration.
Warren, in a written assertion, mentioned, “The Trump administration is threatening to close down all of Social Safety just because a choose dominated to dam 11 DOGE workers from sticking their fingers in taxpayers’ non-public info.”
Dudek additionally mentioned he would ask the choose to right away make clear the order, the information outlet reported.
“We now have obtained the courtroom order and we are going to comply,” a Social Safety spokesperson mentioned in an electronic mail assertion to CNBC on Friday. The company didn’t reply on to questions from CNBC on Dudek’s feedback, or make Dudek out there for an interview.
Advocacy teams slam Social Safety management
The Social Safety Administration sends hundreds of thousands of profit checks monthly to retirement and incapacity program beneficiaries, each by Social Safety and Supplemental Safety Earnings.
Dudek’s feedback, and the implications that the courtroom actions might intrude with the well timed supply of advantages, prompted a wave of responses from advocacy teams.
“For nearly 90 years, Social Safety has by no means missed a paycheck — however 60 days into this administration, Social Safety is now on the brink,” Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Staff, mentioned in a press release in response to Dudek’s feedback. Hollander’s ruling was in a lawsuit {that a} coalition of unions and retirees, together with AFSCME, a commerce union, introduced towards the Social Safety Administration.
Dudek “has confirmed once more that he’s in method over his head,” mentioned Saunders. He mentioned that underneath Dudek’s management the company has compromised People’ safety, shut down sure company providers and deliberate layoffs.
In a separate assertion, Nancy Altman, president of Social Safety Works, mentioned Dudek’s management has been the “darkest in Social Safety’s almost 90 12 months historical past.”
“He has sown chaos and destruction,” Altman mentioned.
In a memo despatched to Social Safety employees members Tuesday that was obtained by NBC Information, Dudek apologized for having made errors and promised to study from them.
Dudek assumed the function of appearing commissioner in February when then appearing commissioner Michelle King stepped down as a result of DOGE privateness considerations. Dudek, a long-time Social Safety worker, reportedly publicly disclosed he had been positioned on administrative go away for cooperating with DOGE.
Trump has nominated Frank Bisignano, CEO of funds expertise firm Fiserv, to function commissioner. Bisignano’s Senate affirmation listening to is scheduled for Tuesday.
Democrats, Republicans at odds over Social Safety
Tensions surrounding adjustments on the Social Safety Administration have prompted a disagreement between Democrats and Republicans in Congress.
Home Methods and Means Committee rating member Richard Neal, D-Mass., on March 19 put out a assertion that known as the present state of affairs on the Social Safety Administration a “five-alarm fireplace.” New adjustments which will restrict customer support and limit profit entry are “not simply burdensome for our nation’s seniors and folks with disabilities — they’re back-door profit cuts,” Neal wrote.
In the meantime, Home Methods and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., in a March 12 assertion mentioned Democrats are “scaremongering to attain political factors,” whereas “the information should not on their facet.”
“President Trump didn’t contact Social Safety advantages throughout his first time period,” Smith mentioned. “Home Republicans and President Trump stay dedicated to defending and preserving the retirement advantages seniors rely on.”
