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AFSCME President Lee Saunders released the following statement after acting Commissioner Leland Dudek threatened to shut down the Social Security Administration in response to a judge temporarily denying Elon Musk’s DOGE access:
“For almost 90 years, Social Security has never missed a paycheck — but 60 days into this administration, Social Security is now on the brink. Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek has proven again that he is in way over his head, compromising the privacy of millions of Americans, shutting down services that senior citizens rely on and planning debilitating layoffs, all in service to Elon Musk’s lies.
“Now, like a child who didn’t get his way, he is threatening to shut down Social Security. Rather than comply with a lawful court order, he wants to see millions of families, retirees and disabled individuals go hungry, suffer and potentially lose their homes all to curry favor with anti-worker billionaires. It’s despicable.
“Even for this administration, this is a new low. Project 2025 didn’t dare mention Social Security, but we always knew they would put it on the table. We’ve fought back efforts by anti-union extremists and billionaires to privatize and gut Social Security before, and we’ll do it again. Workers paid into this program; it belongs to us.”
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams 1 and was authored by Newswire Editor.