Democrats confront Social Security Administration about disruptions to constituent SSI accounts

After standing up a Social Security War Room to respond to what some Democrats are calling a “prelude to privatization” at the Social Security Administration, three Senate Democrats are pressing the agency to respond to reports from their constituents that they’ve had problems with online accounts used to manage Supplemental Security Income benefits. 

“It would be outrageous if the Trump Administration, either due to incompetence or nefarious planning, is already disrupting, or threatening to disrupt, Social Security payments for the most vulnerable citizens in the country,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., wrote in a Monday letter to the agency’s acting leadership. 

SSI is a means-tested program for elderly people and people with disabilities who have limited income and resources.

The trio wrote that they started getting reports from constituents last week about problems with their online accounts. This comes as the agency has been struggling with website outages. 

“They informed our offices that, after signing into their account on the Social Security Administration (SSA)’s website, where they normally see their monthly benefit amount and other information about their benefits, they instead found messages stating that they or their loved ones are ‘currently not receiving payments,’” the letter said. “The payment history and all data about benefits related to these accounts had also disappeared. Some of these constituents have informed us that the issue was quickly resolved and that their profiles now accurately reflect that they are recipients, but it is unclear if these problems have been fully resolved.”

The Democrats are asking Leland Dudek, the agency’s acting administrator, for information about why this happened and to how many people. 

“This alarming episode raises fresh questions about operations at SSA and the effects of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s attacks on the agency, which you have helped facilitate,” the senators wrote, pointing to workforce cuts and plans for office closures. “We are concerned that these efforts are a precursor to attempts to make further cuts to Social Security, or privatize it entirely.”

Since Trump took office, SSA has sought to shed thousands of workers, limited phone service for certain benefit applications and changes to direct deposit information and planned for office closures. DOGE’s attempts to access sensitive data about Americans have also sparked alarm, and lawsuits.

Even so, the agency has also walked back at least some of its changes. The agency shuttered its Office of Transformation in February, only for some of the staff to later be reinstated elsewhere throughout SSA in March, two SSA employees told Nextgov/FCW. Over half have been brought back, said one, although a few staff are being assigned to frontline work instead of their old jobs.

The agency told Nextgov/FCW that it is “optimizing its workforce in alignment with President Trump’s priorities” when asked for a comment.

The group of senators, meanwhile, call the letter their first investigation under the war room effort, which they say will focus on coordinated messaging, grassroots engagement and education, as well as oversight.

The lawmakers began the effort after the Senate Finance Committee advanced the nomination of Trump’s pick for Social Security Commissioner, finance executive Frank Bisignano. Senate Democrats have called for Trump to withdraw Bisignano’s nomination after grilling him about DOGE connections during his nomination hearing.