Warren, Wyden, Gillibrand Press Social Security Commissioner on Benefit Portal Malfunctions, Planned Firings of SSA Tech Workers
Lawmakers send letter amidst widespread website outages, benefit disruptions
“We are concerned these cuts will lead to further website and benefit disruptions, preventing tens of millions of Americans from accessing their hard-earned Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits.”
Washington, D.C. – Senate Banking Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Senate Special Committee on Aging Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), wrote to Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek with concerns about ongoing issues with the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) website and reported plans to worsen the situation by firing up to 50 percent of employees from the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO).
OCIO is responsible for maintaining the agency’s benefit claims processing systems, managing SSA.gov and SSA’s online benefits portal, and protecting Social Security recipients’ sensitive information. In February, the agency announced plans to reduce its workforce by over 12 percent. Hundreds more staff firings will happen at OCIO, which has been directed to cut half of its staff. These cuts are expected to worsen the ongoing issues with SSA’s website and online portals.
On March 27, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order stripping federal employees—including those at OCIO—of their bargaining rights, which would make it easier for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to fire OCIO staff and replace them with employees “more amenable to doing what (DOGE) want(s) to do.”
“(T)hese actions are dangerous for SSA—OCIO employees are the ones who know SSA’s programming language and…administration and oversight of the agency’s anti-fraud software, which DOGE has been tampering with,” wrote the lawmakers.
The senators emphasized that these firings will exacerbate the agency’s ongoing website issues, including recipients being incorrectly labeled as “not receiving payments” and losing access to their account histories. Senator Warren, along with Senators Wyden (D-Ore.) and Kelly (D-Ariz.), sent a letter to Dudek on April 7, 2025, demanding an explanation for their constituents’ reports of these disruptions, but the agency has not responded.
“It is unsurprising that weeks after you allowed DOGE to invade SSA, improperly access SSA data, and announce closures of Social Security offices, our constituents began having problems accessing their benefits…We are concerned that these recurring issues will impact the benefits of our constituents—many of whom rely on Social Security to pay rent or put food on the table,” wrote the lawmakers.
The cuts to the agency also expose SSA to system vulnerabilities, risking Americans’ data to hackers and foreign agents seeking to obtain private information. In addition to the dozens of senior SSA officials with centuries’ worth of experience who have resigned or retired, SSA’s entire cybersecurity leadership was also part of the exodus.
“Leaving Americans’ most sensitive information unguarded places immeasurable financial and economic harm on our most vulnerable…We ask that you immediately cease all OCIO firings and act swiftly to restore SSA system and website functionality to prevent any further disruption of…benefits,” concluded the lawmakers.
The senators asked Dudek to provide clarity on the impact of cuts to OCIO, DOGE’s role in the firings, and the Acting Commissioner’s plan to ensure technical knowledge of internal systems are not lost during work force reductions.
The letter is the latest oversight push from Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, a coordinated effort to fight back against the Trump administration’s attack on Americans’ Social Security. The War Room coordinates messaging across the Senate Democratic Caucus and external stakeholders; encourages grassroots engagement by providing opportunities for Americans to share what Social Security means to them; and educates Senate staff, the American public, and stakeholders about Republicans’ agenda and their continued cuts to Americans’ Social Security services and benefits.
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