Lee Dudek, the acting commissioner for the Social Security Administration, is facing questions about his appointment to the role from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts who serves on the Senate’s Finance Committee.
In a March 2 letter to Dudek, Warren highlights a LinkedIn post from before his appointment as acting commissioner, in which he wrote that he had “bullied agency executives” to help the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, billionaire Elon Musk’s cost-cutting effort. Dudek added that he shared executive contact information and “moved contractor money around” to add resources to his anti-fraud team, according to Warren’s letter.
The Social Security Administration didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The post, which has since been deleted from LinkedIn, suggests that Dudek may “have acted against agency policy — or even illegally — to facilitate DOGE’s efforts to access SSA systems,” Warren wrote in the letter. Since being appointed as acting commissioner, Dudek has announced a significant restructuring of the agency, including cutting 7,000 jobs, or about 12% of its workforce, which current employees say could hamper its mission to provide retirement and disability benefits to almost 70 million Americans.
“The circumstances of your appointment raise questions about the truthfulness of President Trump’s assertion that ‘Social Security will not be touched [by DOGE],’” Warren wrote in the letter. DOGE has “launched an attack on the agency, closing at least 10 local offices, firing scores of personnel and gaining access to SSA internal systems.”
Warren added that SSA leaders “were reportedly so concerned about your behavior that they placed you on administrative leave pending an investigation into your efforts on DOGE’s behalf.”
Dudek is reducing the agency’s staff at a time when its workforce stands at a 50-year low, while its number of beneficiaries has swelled to a record high given the aging boomer generation. An average of about 11,000 boomers will turn 65 each day this year through 2027, according to a report from the Alliance for Lifetime Income.
“The agency plans to reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure, with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services,” the agency said in a Feb. 28 statement.
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
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