Mar 24, 2025

Rushing Teleservice Cuts

      From Axios:

The Social Security Administration is rushing cuts to phone services at the White House's request, the agency's acting commissioner told Social Security advocates in a meeting on Monday, two sources who attended tell Axios. …

Driving the news: Acting commissioner Leland Dudek said the changes in question would usually take two years to implement, but will be made in two weeks instead, the two sources said on condition of anonymity due to fears of retaliation. 

  • Dudek also said the changes, happening so fast and with little public understanding, will create opportunities for scammers, one of the sources said.
  • There will be individuals who will be victims of fraud as a result of the changes, Dudek said, according to one attendee. He said in the past Social Security had been too "thoughtful" in considering beneficiaries before making changes. …

     Why, exactly, would they be in a rush to cut telephone service?  It’s like they really embrace being evil.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

No surprise since this is the Project 2025 game plan. The convicted felon distanced himself from the plan and corporate media two sided the issue without investigating the story. Taking the word of this administration is scandalous since we saw how well the last one ended.

Anonymous said...

I got a feeling Lutnick let the cat out of the bag when he said if his 94 year old mother didn't get her check she wouldn't panic. She would expect it the next month.

I got a feeling the fix is in and they're gonna disrupt payments if not in April, then May...

Anonymous said...

Leland, you might be to be busy with your subpoenas to be held over. I’m wondering if all the chaos in the once proud agency was worth it.

Because of Mr. Dudek’s self-admitted bumpy tenure, he said he did not expect to last much longer.

“I can’t imagine the nominee would want to keep me after the way I’ve been doing things here,” Mr. Dudek said, adding that he had had no contact with Mr. Bisignano.

Anonymous said...

“ He said in the past Social Security had been too "thoughtful" in considering beneficiaries before making changes.”

lol I mean, yeah, are you supposed to be thoughtful with considerations of beneficiaries and how they’ll be affected?

Anonymous said...

You are very observant Leland. You’re Fired is your bosses favorite saying and it will soon apply to you.

Anonymous said...

Does it make sense to keep an employee whose currently under investigation?

Anonymous said...

I don't believe a word Dudek says. Especially after he blurted out that he's doing whatever the White House orders him to do!

Anonymous said...

Unless this is something else we don’t know about yet. It is *only* for direct deposit and applications. Not teleservice as in 800#. I say *only* because it is still a big deal. But not as extreme sounding as *all teleservice* as the headline implies.

Anonymous said...

This. They keep wanting to see what they can normalize. It’s only a matter of time.

Anonymous said...

Too thoughtful to the public—then what is public service for?!? SSA is a public service agency. My god he’s like a cartoon villain.

Anonymous said...

They’re planning to loot the Treasury & G Fund by turning it into useless crypto. Promise.

Anonymous said...

There is going to be a huge political price to pay , when the public soon realizes Social Security customer service has deteriorated due to Trump Administration policies.

Anonymous said...

"He said in the past Social Security had been too "thoughtful" in considering beneficiaries before making changes."


WTF. Who should SSA consider if not the beneficiaries and may i add,claimants?

It's almost like federal agency mandate now is to ignore public welfare

Anonymous said...

It's 800 miles to my local SSA office, either by 2 day boat trip or to fly. Who's gonna pay that? Short notice flights are expensive. If I can't report SSI/SSDI information over the phone (long waits, or just nobody answers) and my internet is down (Starlink is terrible here...imagine that!), is SSA gonna pay for the transportation TOO? One can't change SSI information online. Gotta call....then call to get nobody, then um...swim to the SSA office? Maybe I'll find a kayak for sale and hitch on to a passing barge? This is upending everyones life, but for those who live in rural states, this is a DISASTER!!! I can't afford a last minute flight, and the ferries take days.

Anonymous said...

Bring them to court....

Anonymous said...

Not a lot of meat in that Axios story. 2 weeks ago on Doge they announced that ssa was changing direct deposit ability over the phone, to reduce fraud by requiring more proof. Seems like this is what is being talked about

Anonymous said...

They are being rushed so if they are a disaster, they can be blamed on Dudek and not on Bisignano if they fail. If they work, Bisignano will take credit as it being an idea he came up with.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, great idea...*literally laughed out loud*. Can't afford a flight, but can afford a lawyer?