Democrats urge Social Security Administration to keep field offices open
Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), are urging the Social Security Administration to keep open its field offices and demanding transparency about potential closures in a new letter.
In addition to Warren, 65 House members and 40 senators signed the letter to acting Social Security commissioner Leland Dudek on Wednesday, requesting that he commit to keeping open the field offices and tell them if the agency intends to close any. The request came after the General Services Administration, which leases and manages commercial real estate for the federal government, identified offices that could be closed or sold in a list that was later deleted. The agency previously denied reports that field offices were closing.
“Given SSA’s recent attempts to close field offices — only to reverse course after public outcry and claim it never had plans to close offices — will you commit to keeping each one of these offices open?” the lawmakers said in the letter to Dudek, which included a list of the agency’s field offices.
According Alex Lawson, the executive director of Social Security Works, the letter sent to Dudek will also be delivered to those field offices Thursday by thousands of volunteers set to protest sweeping cuts to the agency by the U.S. DOGE Service. Demonstrations are planned at 58 Social Security offices in 23 states.
Lawson, one of the organizers of the effort, said the action is aimed at showing the administration that Americans rely on those field offices for necessary services, such as applying for benefits and obtaining Social Security cards. More than 73 million people receive Social Security benefits.
“We are ringing the alarm bell,” Lawson said. “This is about real people who will be hurt.”
Social Security said in a statement that it has not announced the closure of any local field offices, adding that it found “underutilized office space,” mostly “small hearing rooms with no assigned employees,” that is no longer needed.
Although the letter was signed only by Democratic lawmakers, the offices that GSA had suggested could close included ones in Republican-held districts, causing some GOP lawmakers to scramble to prevent the closures. Democrats have continued to demand answers about offices in their districts.
Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Michigan) held a news conference with beneficiaries outside the Saginaw field office in her district on Tuesday to highlight the stories of her constituents who use the office.
Questions about the elimination of field offices come as a rapid downsizing of the agency has led to long wait times, website crashes and confusion among beneficiaries. DOGE eliminated 7,000 jobs at Social Security, with thousands more employees expected to be laid off.
Staffing cuts to the agency have led to instances in which office managers answered calls typically handled by receptionists.
By: Meryl Kornfield
Source: Washington Post
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