When news outlets began reporting last month that the Trump administration had slated dozens of local Social Security offices for closure – reports that the Social Security Administration (SSA) later denied – none of New Jersey’s 24 field offices were on the list.
Many of the state’s Democratic senators and representatives want to make sure they stay that way.
In a letter sent this week to Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek, a coalition of more than 100 congressional Democrats – among them Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim and Reps. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), LaMonica McIver (D-Newark), and Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) – listed every Social Security field office in the country and asked which, if any, are at risk of closure.
“Given SSA’s recent attempts to close field offices – only to reverse course after public outcry and claim it never had plans to close offices – will you commit to keeping each one of these offices open?” the letter asks. “If not, please identify which offices you will close and why.”
Last month, per the Associated Press and other outlets, it appeared as though 47 Social Security offices would be slated for closure thanks to a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plan to cancel federal government leases. The news sparked an outcry among Democrats and some Republicans, who have pledged to protect Social Security even as Donald Trump reshapes much of the federal government.
The SSA, however, strongly denied ever making plans to close local offices outside of a single office in White Plains, New York, calling reports to the contrary “false” in a March 27 statement.
“SSA is committed to providing service where people need help and our local field offices are no exception,” Dudek said then. “We have not permanently closed any local field offices this year.”
Even under the initial reported plan, none of New Jersey’s two dozen offices – which are located across the state, with at least one in every congressional district – were slated for closure. But that didn’t stop Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy & Commerce Committee and a leading critic of Trump’s spending cut proposals, from accusing the president of “intentionally trying to break the Social Security Administration.”
“Shutting down field offices in New Jersey would hit my district hard,” Pallone said in a statement today. “Many of my constituents rely on these in-person services, especially those who can’t access online systems, don’t have broadband, or face language barriers. Closing their local office means cutting off their access to the benefits they’ve earned.”
The letter asks Dudek to respond by May 6.
RELATED ARTICLES
-
October 3, 2018 -
October 19, 2018 -
