The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) has said he is “not shutting down the agency” after previously hinting at the possibility following a ruling that restricted the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to sensitive agency data.
Newsweek has contacted the SSA for comment via email outside regular working hours.
Why It Matters
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander issued a temporary restraining order that blocked the agency from granting DOGE personnel access to agency systems containing personally identifiable information.
DOGE has been working at the agency, which distributes retirement and disability benefits to about 70 million Americans, to root out fraud and waste under the directive of President Donald Trump. Under DOGE’s guidance, numerous changes have been brought in, including staff cutbacks and the closure of some internal departments.
What To Know
Hollander ordered DOGE employees to “disgorge and delete” any personally identifiable information they had that had not been anonymized. They were also barred from installing any software on SSA devices and ordered to remove any such software installed since the beginning of the Trump administration.
Following that order, Dudek threatened to bar SSA employees from accessing its computer systems entirely. Dudek appeared to suggest that the judge’s ruling would force him to pause Social Security payments and block all employees from the agency’s systems.
“My anti-fraud team would be DOGE affiliates. My IT staff would be DOGE affiliates,” Dudek said in an interview with Bloomberg. “As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems.”
Hollander then clarified that her order applied only to DOGE employees.
On Friday, the judge wrote in a letter sent to lawyers involved in the case: “Employees of SSA who are not involved with the DOGE Team or in the work of the DOGE Team are not subject to the Order.” She added, “Any suggestion that the Order may require the delay or suspension of benefit payments is incorrect.”
Dudek publicly responded to Hollander’s letter, saying he had received “clarifying guidance” about the judge’s temporary restraining order related to DOGE activities.
In a statement posted on the SSA website on Friday, he said: “Therefore, I am not shutting down the agency. President Trump supports keeping Social Security offices open and getting the right check to the right person at the right time. SSA employees and their work will continue under the TRO [temporary restraining order].”
What People Are Saying
U.S. District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander said in her Thursday ruling: “The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion. It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.”
Harrison Fields, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement regarding the ruling, according to Reuters: “This is yet another activist judge abusing the judicial system to try and sabotage the President’s attempts to rid the government of waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Lee Saunders, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, said in a statement: “For almost 90 years, Social Security has never missed a paycheck—but 60 days into this administration, Social Security is now on the brink. Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek has proven again that he is in way over his head, compromising the privacy of millions of Americans, shutting down services that senior citizens rely on and planning debilitating layoffs, all in service to Elon Musk‘s lies.”
What Happens Next
Hollander’s temporary restraining order is set to last two weeks.
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