Summary
Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek threatened to shut down the agency after a court barred Elon Musk’s DOGE team from accessing sensitive databases.
Dudek said he would cut off IT access for all employees, raising fears of halted benefits for 70 million Americans.
The court later clarified that not all SSA employees were DOGE affiliates, leading Dudek to backtrack.
Critics, including advocacy groups, accuse Dudek of undermining the agency and pursuing Musk and Trump’s anti-fraud agenda, which falsely alleges widespread improper payments.
Cut social security and Medicare now.
It’ll suck for a lot of people. Parents will have to move in with their kids. It’ll collapse entire sectors of Healthcare, housing, even basic stuff like utilities and grocers will be decimated by the loss.
The worst thing would be for them to be able to kick the can down the road long enough that their policies have time to solidify. Once the institutional knowledge is gone for good we won’t just be able to repair the damage.