Social Security head resigns following DOGE data request: Reports
(NewsNation) — The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration has stepped down from her role after the Department of Government Efficiency requested access to private information, according to reports.
Acting Commissioner Michelle King left the agency after more than 30 years, allegedly refusing to give DOGE staffers sensitive information, according to the Associated Press. Former Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O’Malley told NewsNation, “I think she should hold her head high… I think she’s a patriot if the reports I’m hearing are true.”
But why does DOGE want access to Social Security information? And what would they do with that access?
What is DOGE?
The Department of Government Efficiency was created by President Donald Trump through an executive order. Previously, the organization was called the Office of Digital Services. Trump also moved DOGE to be under the Executive Office of the President from the Office of Management and Budget.
DOGE has made many changes to some agencies, like USAID, which is responsible for offering humanitarian aid overseas. There have been leadership shakeups for DOGE and lawsuits they have had to face. After accessing USAID’s systems, DOGE put most of the staff on administrative leave, recalled those who were overseas and prevented staff from accessing the USAID office in Washington, D.C.
DOGE is not an agency or a Cabinet-level position, but it has been treated nearly the same. Because of this, Elon Musk, head of DOGE, has not had to go through a Senate confirmation hearing, which would typically be required for someone at that level of power.
Musk claimed in an Oval Office press conference in February that a “cursory examination of Social Security, and we got people in there that are 150 years old. Now, do you know anyone that’s 150? I don’t know. They should be in the Guinness Book of World Records… So, that’s a case where I think they’re probably dead.”
O’Malley told NewsNation that isn’t the case, and there are bigger problems with the Social Security Administration. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about… you know what the biggest problem is of Social Security? They’re serving more people than ever, every single day, with staffing that House Republicans have reduced to a 50-year low.”
What would DOGE do with Social Security information?
It is not known what DOGE wants to do with any Social Security information it is given access to. At the beginning of February, Trump said that DOGE would not “touch” Social Security.
“Social Security will not be touched, it will only be strengthened,” Trump said during a news conference when asked if there are any limits placed on what Musk can examine. DOGE employees do have access to the Social Security numbers of many Americans, along with sensitive tax information and banking accounts for direct deposit.
On Sunday, Elon Musk posted a chart on X that allegedly showed more than 20 million people over 100 years old listed in “the Social Security database.” However, a 2023 agency inspector general report found “almost none” of the 18.9 million people who were listed as 100 years old or older were receiving benefits.
“What Musk has tweeted is not primarily an example of fraud but more like the messy databases kept by Social Security,” said Alex Nowrasteh, the vice president for economic and social policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute
Trump and Musk have continuously stated that DOGE is only conducting a financial audit. However, audits do not typically require direct access to the Treasury Department’s payment system.
The Trump administration has said that Musk has read-only access to the system, but some critics have raised the alarm about what Musk could do.
Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss from Massachusetts told NewsNation, “I think Americans are wondering right now why the heck Elon Musk has access to their Social Security numbers, why he knows who’s paying child support, why he sees people’s tax refunds. I think they’re wondering why this unelected billionaire knows information about them that he has no business knowing.”
With access to the payment system, DOGE could cut off any payments it or Trump decides should be cut. This could include:
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Cutting funding for school lunch programs
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Deciding who should or should not receive Social Security payments
Who will be the new head of the Social Security Administration?
According to Harrison Fields, the special assistant to the president, Trump has nominated Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration. The administration is expecting Bisignano to “be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks.” Until then, Social Security will be led by “a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner,” according to Fields’ X post.
“President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long,” Fields said.
Bisignano is currently the president and CEO of Fiserv, a global financial technology company.
What is on the horizon for Social Security?
Trump said that he wants to “weed out” undocumented individuals whom he claimed were using the Social Security program.
“We have illegal immigrants on Social Security and we’re going to find out who they are and take them off… we’re not going to stand for that.”
However, O’Malley said that illegal immigrants pay about $22 billion per year into Social Security and never get to use the benefits of the program.
Trump also said he won’t “cut one cent” from the program or raise the retirement age. But some think that this could be what breaks the Social Security program.
Could DOGE, Trump administration close the IRS?
“This program that so many people depend on as a lifeline could very well be broken by these nitwit 19-year-olds and the co-presidents,” O’Malley told NewsNation.
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[NEWSNATION]
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