Legal fight over Social Security info spurs talk of missing payments

• Public sector unions secured a temporary two-week hold on the Department of Government Efficiency accessing Social Security Administration data. This prompted SSA acting Commissioner Leland Dudek to threaten a shutdown over concerns about the ruling’s scope.

• Federal Judge Ellen Hollander clarified that the order does not restrict SSA employees unaffiliated with DOGE from accessing personally identifiable information, countering Dudek’s interpretation.
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick fueled concerns about potential Social Security payment delays. Meanwhile, DOGE head Elon Musk highlighted fraudulent cases as part of the administration’s efforts to address waste and abuse.

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The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) push to find waste in the Social Security Administration (SSA) has set off a legal firestorm that has led to talk of an interruption of payments. Social Security hasn’t missed a dispersal of retiree funds in nearly a century.

A legal challenge from public sector unions resulted in a federal judge issuing a temporary two-week hold on DOGE accessing personal information held within SSA. In turn, acting Commissioner Leland Dudek threatened to shut down the agency over the ruling’s language, which he interprets as applying the hold on all current SSA employees. 

The Washington Post reported Friday, March 21, that Dudek is consulting with the Justice Department on the ruling he called “overly broad.” Dudek contends that the ruling would prevent SSA employees from accessing personally identifiable information (PII) because they are obliged to work with DOGE.

Federal Judge Ellen Hollander, who blocked DOGE from accessing the data, issued a memo responding to Dudek’s thoughts. 

“Such assertions about the scope of the Order are inaccurate,” Hollander said. “Employees of SSA who are not involved with the DOGE team or in the work of the DOGE team are not subject to the Order.”

Lutnick comments

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who mentioned an interruption of benefits on the “All In” podcast released Thursday, March 20, added fuel to the speculation.

“Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month,” Lutnick said. “My mother-in-law, who’s 94, she wouldn’t call to complain. She just wouldn’t. She’d think that something got messed up, and she’ll get it next week. The fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.” 

Lutnick stressed that the government wouldn’t have to take “one penny” from those who qualify for federal benefit programs like Social Security. 

The Trump administration tasked DOGE with rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. DOGE head Elon Musk has pointed to Social Security recipients with birth dates well beyond the oldest human beings on record still receiving monthly checks, though experts have refuted that as nothing more than a product of archaic computer programming.

A July 2024 report from Social Security’s inspector general estimated $71.8 billion in improper payments between 2015 and 2022. Meanwhile, roughly 90,000 Americans over the age of 99 received Social Security payments in December 2024, one month before President Trump took office.