WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and a group of 20 Senate colleagues called on the Trump administration and its so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to stop their harmful attacks to the Social Security Administration (SSA).
This comes in the wake of the Trump administration’s repeated actions to weaken the SSA, which include staffing cuts, plans for indiscriminate closures of field offices around the nation, and limits to phone services. These cuts are upending the lives of older adults and people with disabilities who rely on the Social Security benefits that they have earned to pay their rent, purchase groceries, and afford medical bills.
“The changes undertaken by SSA leadership and the DOGE disregard the reality of daily life for those millions of Americans,” wrote the senators in a letter to Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek. “They are spearheaded by the out-of-touch, unelected leadership of the DOGE. They hurt our nation’s older adults and people with disabilities—our grandparents, our friends, and our neighbors. And they risk debilitating the Social Security System and denying Americans the money they are owed.”
In Arizona, nearly half of Social Security recipients over the age of 65 rely on their checks for at least half of their income. Recent reports reveal that some Arizonans are left waiting weeks for delayed checks, being hung up on when they call SSA, or unable to update critical information like direct deposit details due to office closures and reduced staffing.
The letter was led by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), ranking member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.
Read the full letter HERE.