Feb 24, 2025
Tense Times In Baltimore
From the Baltimore Banner:
... “Everything was smooth and very positive, and it seemed like this was a great place to work. But now, no one knows anything,” said a Baltimore-area Social Security employee who has been with the agency less than a year. “I still don’t know if I’m going to have a job.”
That employee, as well as other current Social Security workers, asked for anonymity out of fear of being targeted by the administration. ...
The Trump administration said it is terminating most probationary workers across federal agencies. About 4% of Social Security’s 58,627 employees nationwide had less than one year on the job as of spring 2024, according to the most recent federal data available. ...
I can't copy them here but the photos that accompany this article are evocative and depressing, more so than the writing and the writing is good.
Feb 23, 2025
A Message To Staff
From: ^Human Resources Internal Communications
Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2025 10:57 AM
Subject: Time Sensitive: 'Accomplishments' Assignment
A Message to All SSA Employees
Subject: Time Sensitive: ‘Accomplishments’ Assignment
You should have received an email yesterday from the sender “HR” requesting that you reply to that email with 5 bullets about your accomplishments last week. This email is a legitimate assignment and should not be reported as spam. You must take the action requested by the deadline.
Things to do:
Review your work over the last week and identify the most impactful mission-critical work accomplishments that advances our public service mission, as well as the Administration’s priorities. This is an opportunity to highlight the important work you do that helps impact the lives of those we serve.
Reply to the email from HR with 5 bullets describing your accomplishments:
Don’t include any sensitive or confidential information, including details that aren’t available to the public.
Where relevant, include the specific SSA programs or operational priorities that your accomplishments support.
Include your immediate supervisor in the cc line of your response.
Deadline:
Your response to the HR email is due no later than 11:59pm EST on Monday, February 24, 2025.
COVID Killed 1.7 Million In U.S.; Saves $205 Billion For Social Security
From The Effect Of US COVID-19 Excess Mortality On Social Security Outlays, a study by Hanke Heun-Johnson, Darius Lakdawalla, Julian Reif and Bryan Tysinger:
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant excess mortality among the US population, impacting the future outlays of the US Social Security Administration (SSA) Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program. This study aimed to estimate the net effects of pandemic-induced excess deaths on OASDI liabilities ... The pandemic resulted in approximately 1.7 million excess deaths among individuals aged 25 and older between 2020 and 2023. These premature deaths reduced future retirement payments, which increased the Social Security fund by $294 billion. However, this gain was offset by reductions in future payroll tax flows ($58 billion) and increased payments to surviving spouses and children ($32 billion), resulting in a net impact of $205 billion. ...
For better or worse, DOGE has probably ended this sort of research.
Feb 22, 2025
Another Insult From Musk; Unions Fight Back
From the Washington Post:
All federal workers will shortly receive an email asking what they did last week — and that if employees fail to respond, it will be taken as a resignation, Elon Musk wrote in a post on X Saturday. …
From a press release:
AFSCME, Alliance for Retired Americans, AFT Challenge DOGE’s Access, Executed by Unconfirmed, Acting Official, to Confidential, Private Data of Hundreds of Millions of AmericansSuit filed on heels of SSA Acting Head’s Departure Amid Concerns about DOGE Access to DataBaltimore, MD — In a new lawsuit filed on Friday night, retirees and unions sued to halt DOGE’s unprecedented, unlawful seizure of personal, confidential, private and sensitive data from the Social Security Administration, without any express authority. Such access has been granted by an unlawful acting official, installed at SSA with disregard for the rules governing such appointments. ..
More On The Elevation Of Dudek — With A Small Role For Andrew Saul
From Lisa Rein at the Washington Post:
Leaders of the Social Security Administration had just opened an investigation into a career employee they believed was improperly sharing information with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team when President Donald Trump elevated the employee this week to acting commissioner. …
It’s not clear what data Dudek shared, but his actions raised enough alarm that he may have violated privacy and tax laws that senior officials placed him on paid leave as they launched their investigation. The officials, including attorneys in the general counsel’s office, also were notified late last week that Dudek had sent harassing emails to employees in the agency’s personnel and security divisions to rush them to let several engineers hired by DOGE start work and gain access to agency computer systems. The officials pushed back, saying that they had not completed background investigations into the new hires….
When the [DOGE] team learned last week that Dudek would be investigated, the chief information officer called acting commissioner Michelle King to demand answers. Then, on the Sunday of Presidents’ Day weekend, King received an email announcing that Trump had appointed Dudek to replace her. After being effectively forced out, King abruptly retired after three decades of service, the three individuals said. Her acting chief of staff, Tiffany Flick, also retired. …
In his first days on the job, Dudek has made bold moves that are highly unusual for someone in an acting role. He has slashed the agency’s research program, restructured numerous departments, announced the hires of new political staff, and made personnel changes that include the demotion of the career senior executive who was involved in placing him on paid leave last week, according to internal personnel announcements obtained by The Washington Post. …
“If I were them, I would want to get my permanent person in as fast as possible,” said Andrew Saul, who served as Social Security commissioner during Trump’s first term. “The situation is not good, obviously.” Saul said he recommended King, then deputy commissioner for operations, to Trump’s transition team after his election in November. “I knew she’d hold the ship down.” …
Feb 21, 2025
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