A group of Senate Democrats on Tuesday demanded information on how staffing shortages and reassignments are impacting the Social Security Administration’s ability to keep its 1,200 field offices open to the public.
Last year, after years of chronic underfunding of SSA’s administrative functions already brought its workforce to a 50-year low, the Trump administration shaved the agency’s headcount by another 7,500 employees. According to OPM data, SSA had around 49,500 employees as of May. Bisignano has also reassigned more than 1,500 employees from the field offices and other subcomponents to man Social Security's 1-800 customer service line.
Earlier this year, Bisignano wrote in a private letter to Warren that he would “keep every field office open” and ensure they are “providing better and high-quality service.” But over the last several months, dozens of field offices have been listed at various points either closed entirely or only offered services via telephone. As of Monday afternoon, 16 field offices across the country provided no or limited services.
In a letter to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and three other Democrats requested information on these temporary closures and the underlying reasons for each shuttering.
“Many of these offices were reportedly closed to the public due to maintenance needs or other operational issues—which may be a valid reason,” the lawmakers wrote. “But several offices appear to have been effectively closed due to staffing shortages, and some of these offices have allegedly remained ‘temporarily closed’ for an extended period of time.” …
13 comments:
No 💩? I'm astounded by this. Imagine, a world where the government lies to it's citizens to justify...well, just about everything. Now, imagine being lied to in school about the US being the greatest country in the world. I'm starting to doubt how great we really are when I read this kind of stuff. Sure, I'm proud to be from the USA, I just wish they'd tell us the truth.
This administration likes to test the waters to see how far they can stretch the boundaries. More offices will be closed and employees let go if nobody complains.
We know what Frankenstein will do. He will endlessly lie to Senator Warren!
Good luck with any changes. POTUS just Truthed three different stories about beloved Commissioner this morning. Very happy with his work saving $100M.
Truthed? Is that a euphemism for lying?
No she or he means Truth Social, the popular social network founded by President Trump.
Just like the last one. Except no boundaries. I mean boarders.
We know it’s coming. The trust fund is depleting, staff shrinking, and moving from community based service to centralized backend work. After salaries, offices and guards are the biggest Agency administrative cuts and they won’t be able to resist. Rural offices will survive since they’re spread apart but urban offices are ripe for consolidation.
Franko is the gravedigger of the Agency. That’s just the way it is.
Good of the union’s journalist to update the article with the actual facts from the agency.
“None of SSA's field offices are closed or offering limited service due to staffing issues,” the spokesperson wrote. “The field office closures listed on the Social Security website are not permanent. The offices are temporarily closed or providing limited service due to planned renovations, required maintenance, or facilities issues that we are actively working with GSA and building owners to resolve. SSA’s resident stations are located in rural areas and typically have one or two employees assigned to provide in-person services.”
Flyover country here. Our office won't survive. We've lost 75% of staff since Covid and new hires quit in their first year. The Use It Bill requires us to utilize 60% of our office space, we don't. Being rural means there are few if any other agencies to co locate or consolidate with. We already tried that.
....and the lies just keep coming. I live rural and my nearest office (after the closures) is about 2 hours and 20 minutes away. That's not acceptable, and no, I don't live off grid or anything like that, just in a rural area. Used to be an office in town 20 minutes away. That went away with Elon's first slash. *Poof* gone.
look at the closure lists each day. compare the number of offices with telephone service only on average days versus days before and after holiday weekends to see if there's a staffing issue.
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