Social Security Chief Says White House Ordered 'Rapid' Phone Service Cutbacks
Source: HuffPost
Social Security Chief Says White House Ordered 'Rapid' Phone Service Cutbacks
Leland Dudek told stakeholders such big changes, being enacted in just two weeks, typically take two years.
By Arthur Delaney
Mar 24, 2025, 04:50 PM EDT
WASHINGTON ― The White House requested the rapid changes to phone service that the Social Security Administration plans to put in place next week, the agency’s leader said Monday.
In a meeting with advocacy groups that are stakeholders in the agency’s disability and retirement programs, Leland Dudek said the sweeping changes he’s pursued since becoming acting commissioner last month were dialed up by his superiors in the Trump administration.
“He said, ‘The reason that we’re on this timeline is because we received a request from the White House. The leadership above me believes that we should do a rapid rollout,’” a source in the meeting told HuffPost. Two additional sources confirmed the account.
Dudek last week announced that for any transaction requiring Social Security claimants to verify their identities, starting on March 31 they will no longer be able to do so over the phone. Instead, claimants who can’t use the agency’s website will have to verify their identities in-person by visiting a field office.
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Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/leland-dudek-social-security-phone-service_n_67e1bb85e4b03e4bddd128db