Correcting the Record about Social Security Office Closings
reports in the media that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is permanently closing local field offices are false. Since January 1, 2025, the agency has not permanently closed or announced the permanent closure of any local field office. From time to time, SSA must temporarily close a local field office for reasons such as weather, damage, or facilities issues, and it reopens when the issues are resolved. The agency has announced the permanent closure of one hearing office, in White Plains, NY.
SSA works closely with local congressional delegations before closing any office permanently. The agency also reassigns employees from an affected office to other locations to help communities access in-person services.
“SSA is committed to providing service where people need help and our local field offices are no exception,” said Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “We have not permanently closed any local field offices this year.”
SSA identified for the General Services Administration underutilized office space to ensure the government is spending taxpayer money as prudently as possible. The agency provided GSA a list of sites for termination. Most of these are small hearing rooms with no assigned employees. Since most hearings are held virtually, SSA no longer needs these underutilized rooms.
9 comments:
"Permanent closure" is an elastic term. Ask them how many field offices are currently, or "indefinitely" closed.
Literally all this says is "Since Jan 1, 2025, SSA hasn't closed any field offices or announced the closure of any local field offices..."
Doesn't mean they aren't going to close any in the up coming months/years under the trump admin, they are just stating they haven't done it YET.
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Interesting, just two weeks ago my local news announced the closing of a SSA field office in my area.
It pains me to see SSA to go to such links to contort the truth. These permanent remote stations (PRS) seem to refer to field office private intervie rooms -- GSA has only one lease at the address for say Roanoke Rapids NC. A PRS would have a separate lease. Does the agency plany to renegotiate leases to reduce the FO square footage? If so, say that rather than create an ever changing story unsupported by GSA leases.
Not to defend the idiots, but all of the current "field office" closings to date parroted by the media are actually the termination of leases for field office adjacent remote hearing office spaces used by OHA and/or DDSes to conduct hearings. These leases are separate from the field office leases.
The media is characterizing them as "office closures" because they are too lazy to actually investigate beyond seeing that the spaces have the same addresses as the local offices in many cases. And, it didn't help that Elmo and his publicity machine didn't come out and say they weren't office closures because to do so didn't support his PR push at the time.
I have no doubt that they are planning office closures (perhaps, a lot of them) and consolidations after they have gotten rid of as many SSA employees as they possibly can, but to date they aren't to that point.
SSA has not communicated in any normal or appropriate way with the press, the public, or Congress about anything they are doing. They just put themsleves into awkward positions where they eventually have to de-escalte from. Dudek is one piece of work.
Stuff and nonsense. SSA did not work closely with congressional delegations when they closed NY hearing offices in Brooklyn (2016) and White Plains (2025), and ignored Congressional letters protesting each closure.
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