April 23 (UPI) — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other top Senate Democrats asked the Social Security Administration’s acting inspector general Wednesday to investigate whether cuts made to the agency have impacted benefits due to Americans.
Schumer, D-N.Y., sent the letter, cosigned by Committee on Finance Ranking Member Sen. Ron Wyden, D- Ore., Special Committee on Aging Ranking Member Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., to SSA Assistant Inspector General for Audit Michelle L. Anderson.
“We are writing to express deep concern regarding recent developments at the Social Security Administration that will drastically disrupt, if not reduce, Americans’ earned benefits,” Schumer wrote.
He then mentioned that in the past month, the SSA has quickly closed offices, fired thousands of workers and first changed, then reversed customer service practices, “with little transparency or consideration on its impact to its customers.”
Schumer continued that there is concern that “that this hostile environment will foster burnout, low morale, higher attrition, and worse productivity among employees,” which collectively “will undoubtedly lead to disruption in benefit payments and increasing barriers for Americans to access their Social Security benefits.”
He then asked for a review to determine if the changes made have affected the SSA’s “ability to administer the programs and on SSA’s beneficiaries,” and the agency’s ability to provide customer service.
The Washington Post has since reported that White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said in a statement that Democrats’ concerns were “fake,” and that “President Trump will fiercely protect Social Security, eliminate unfair benefit taxes to boost seniors’ take-home pay, and drive the Social Security Administration to modernize systems, enhance customer service, and combat fraud.”
Prominent Democrats have been publicly discussing potential damages caused by cuts to the SSA recently. Former President Joe Biden made his first public comments since his departure from the White House, which criticized the cuts.
“In fewer than 100 days, this administration has done so much damage and so much devastation. It’s breathtaking that it could happen so fast,” Biden said.
House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly, D-Va., sent a letter to Anderson last week, which he said in a press release was initiated because he allegedly “obtained multiple credible and disturbing whistleblower reports that DOGE is knowingly jeopardizing Social Security Administration operations, putting Americans’ Social Security benefits at risk of delay, and compiling a ‘master database’ of Americans’ most sensitive data that risks exposure and exfiltration.”
The SSA announced in February that as per executive orders issued by the White House, it would cut its workforce from 57,000 to 50,000 and reduce its regional structure of 10 offices to a “regional structure in all agency components down to four regions.”
