Statement from Acting Commissioner Dudek about Temporary Restraining Order
Reading Time: 1 MinuteLast Updated: March 26, 2025
“Today, the Court issued clarifying guidance about the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) related to DOGE employees and DOGE activities at the Social Security Administration (SSA). Therefore, I am not shutting down the agency. President Trump supports keeping Social Security offices open and getting the right check to the right person at the right time. SSA employees and their work will continue under the TRO.”
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mev
Someone who lives in one of the richest neighborhoods in AZ went to complain on the news that SSA requires appointments and she says she didn’t know. She complained that she wanted her 1099. She says she goes every year to get it in person. Did she do that during covid when the offices were locked down? Really? Did she make this up? She even complained that she had waited just over 10 minutes for them on the phone. She can’t wait 10 minutes? but she can wait hours in line every year rather then look in her mailbox? My 1099 is mailed to me every year. How did this person from a fancy neighborhood get the opportunity to go complain about SSA on the news with no follow up questions from the news. The journalist was not thorough. Chin up, SSA. Ignore the hit pieces on the news.
RICHARD J.
You should resign just for threatening to shut down Social Security. Stop Elon Musk and his Kiddy Krusade from pilfering our information in the SSA database. Your plan is to burn it all down, step in saying you can fix it, give it to private equity firms who will squeeze more money out of it, then walk away with the rest of the money. Save your crocodile tears.
Martha
B-I-N-G-O.
Bill T.
I don’t know what kind of a public servant you were before 🤡 became our daddy, but turn in your uniform … 🤮
Susan L.
Musk & his Doge staff have no business inside the Social Security Administration. Rather than making cuts to current benefits, the Social Security cap on the wealthiest earners should be raised way above the current 160K to help bolster the fund for the future.
DT
You idiots, Musk is helping to save Social Security by finding and eliminating fraud and waste. He is not making any cuts to benefits.
Bob M.
You’re smoking your socks. Musk is lining his pockets at your and my expense.
Martha W.
Not yet. Also of note…Dudek says that because of this TRO, he “…is not going to shut down Social Security.” I encourage you to read that again…he literally said BECAUSE of the restraining order, he is not going to “shut down the SSA.” This is simple English and the statement means that if there had NOT been a TRO, he WOULD have shut it down. That is what he wrote. Like it or not…it is what he wrote. Now tell me there is no reason for concern.
Lance
Do you have evidence benifits are/were cut. Please stop making false statements. The SS Administration is ripe with fraud and waste. Why do you oppose rooting out fraud and waste, whomever is pointing it out?
Carol C.
I totally agree with you. Maybe even raise the % remitted to the Trust Fund by 0.5% or whatever is needed to maintain Social Security as intended.
k
Enough is enough. Leave our money alone and stay out of our accounts. While you’re at it, pay back the money that’s been borrowed starting with Reagan. And give us a COLA that uses what seniors use to figure it out. We should have had a COLA of 20%, not 2.
Carolyn A.
I have no faith in the current management at Social Security. My notice was wrong, my February check was wrong. Waiting to see how I Fair in March. Social Security is an EARNED BENEFIT. The agency needs proper staffing and funding. Might try ADULT leadership as well. It is criminal what is happening now! People WILL remember!
Cheryl A.
I’ve never had a problem but I know they are under a lot of pressure because the president fires a lot of employees.
Patron
They are trying to weed out the people collecting a check on dead people and family member’s who have past away and somehow still collecting a check.
Citizen W.
No, that is a misunderstanding Musk perpetuated because of youngsters who looked at a dataset, did not understand it, and made assumptions. SSA has for years been working to stop fraud, waste, and abuse. This is not new to this administration.
Lance
Working at something for years is not doing anything. Hiring more people to work at something for more years is insane. President Trump gets things done, but Democrats love to stand in his way.
Felipe
If so that’s abusive. If it is not one’s deposited money’s by law no ane should be handling it or even planning to use whats no there’s.
NO EXCUSE
Georgia
This is a total lie, spread by the administration to deceive you into thinking these actions are righteous. For decades, SSA has had a system in place to investigate fraud and prosecute those committing it. Just google and you’ll see the headlines of those they’ve caught, including relatives cashing a check after a loved one’s death. It’s a very small percentage of beneficiaries.
John
Hollander wrote in her 137-page opinion. “The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion. It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.”
J. J.
The people listed with 150 year-old dates of birth, were given those just as place-holders because no reasonable person would think anyone was 150. They are not getting benefits. That’s a lie told by Trump and his evil cronies.
Vick W.
What about those that have passed away and never received a dime of the money they paid in not even a $200.00 death Benifits? I think American citizens and their families should sue the social security (post master) for those funds. I’m not talking about a social security attorney I’m talking about a contract attorney.
Judy
People WILL do more than remember.
Why should the wealthiest Americans pay less taxes than the rest of us. The middle class wages have not kept up with the cost of living. I will have to sell my house if I don’t receive my Social Security.
Meantime, Elon’s boy-hackers of Federal agencies can’t wait to get their hands on our money. Make no mistake, I truly believe that would cause a revolution. Politicians have been licking their fingers to get “our” Social Security funds. My payroll deductions went into Social Security for many years. My employer also added to Social Security.
People are objecting to this Presidential administration, and also the managerial changes in Federal administrations. Is there an honest man/woman left in government organizations? Why
isn’t the government protecting our Federal offices and administrations?? Those who don’t work should not be paid. That includes Congress, the Judiciary, the Supreme Court, and the rest. If they don’t show up and work, it is reflected on paychecks
Bpb
Obviously the court order did not intend to shut down social security and that was a publicity stunt intended to victimize those of us that get social security. Some of the things you do administration are doing if good intentions but it is one sloppy group of people trying to do the work. You made a huge mistake here and lost a lot of support permanently
dontworrybehappy
SSA will get it all worked out. They are great and I called the other day. 0 minute hold. That has never happened before. sometimes it is 20 min, sometimes 120 min but this is the first time with 0 minutes. Someone is doing something right at SSA. Kukos
Nancy
Hmm, I do not know where you are located but that is not the current situation for most of us. I called the local SSA office to schedule an appt because one is unable to drop in or schedule online, there was a 6+ minutes recording explaining the 239-day backlog for filing medical oriented SS and then the process for filing retirement SS. At the end of the recording, it cuts one off – hangs up. Much worse than previous situation!!!
Vick W.
100% agree same experience here with the wait and the hanging up.
Bob M.
You must have won the lottery. DOGE has screwed up everything it’s touched. The DOGE/gop/Trump goal is to kill SS, Medicare and Medicaid.
Jeff K.
Since the president was elected by a majority of the American voters, how would the Social Security administration be more efficient by removing fraud, waste and abused? The DOGE team is NOT the enemy of those of us who are drawing Social Security. How is the commissioner going to find efficiencies if you don’t evaluate all parts of the current Social Security operations? Doing so does not mean those drawing would lose their benefits. Finding efficiencies could help secure the ability of the agency to to continue the current payment stream after eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse. Those are the real issues. This article touches on the Social Security administration complying with a court order to not shut down regional offices but does not address the information which pointed out why these regional office closures would make sense. I would like to see a more thorough response to help inform those of us who benefit from Social Security and those who are still paying into the system to better understand why a thorough review of current operations shouldn’t address areas (such as shutting down regional offices) makes sense. Put the facts out there in an article for the readers to review and understand. There are too many emotionally charged comments which really don’t help us get to through the facts impacting the agency’s real issues. Don’t be afraid of knowing the facts. Thank you,
M.E. V.
Agreed
Anonymous c.
Ok Jeff.
Why shut down doe workers especially those on contract not everyone is a criminal or defrauding the system.
I’ve seen some ppl get ssi and still make 10k or more per bank fraud units! Hopefully that isn’t you. Yes get an understanding.
Capture the ones in question not shut down the whole dept and disrupt the entire country. Doge is created to take away what already has happened with the very people who created it. A cover up sort of speak which is simple a made up unauthorized unit! I want to have access to your personal files….reallly? Oh, not yours them…suggestively. Or what happened to the investigations related to the alledged crimes committed…within the political house parties. It’s simple a distraction. Get to the real root of the problem without making other innocent people feel the heat.
Sandy
You have drunk the maga kool-aid and are fully indoctrinated. Trump and Musk are going to run the country right into the ground. They have already stopped some people’s checks who are very much alive and eligible. They may be reinstated, but when? Yes Musk, Trump and DOGE are the enemies.
CarolS
Thank you for your commonsense comment.
TR
100% agree! The fear tactics are just that, tactics to make everyone afraid of finding the fraud and abuse and show how much the government has already pilfered from our money. Bring the system into the current century and ensure that people who have never contributed do not get our money.