1. United States
2. Maine
3. Letter

I am writing to express deep concern and alarm over the current, rapidly accelerating dismantling of the Social Security Administration. I urge you to take immediate and decisive action to halt what appears to be a deliberate effort to incapacitate one of our nation’s most successful and essential public programs. Social Security is not in crisis due to insolvency, fraud, or inefficiency. In fact, it operates with the lowest administrative costs of any large government or private program—just 0.5%—and boasts a 99.7% payment accuracy rate. Any funding concerns could be resolved by a modest adjustment to the income cap on Social Security taxes. Yet under the influence of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the agency is being systematically dismantled from within. The appointment of Leland Dudek—reportedly operating under the direction of Musk—as acting commissioner has already resulted in the loss of over 12% of the SSA’s workforce, including irreplaceable senior staff. Field offices are closing, phone services have degraded beyond usability, and the agency’s website has crashed multiple times, leaving millions of Americans—especially retirees and the disabled—unable to access their earned benefits. This is not reform. It is sabotage. Musk and Trump have spread false claims of widespread fraud to justify gutting the agency, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The result has been chaos, longer wait times, and dangerously reduced access for millions who depend on Social Security to survive. This moment calls for strong leadership. I urge you to speak out publicly, hold hearings, introduce legislation to restore SSA staffing and funding, and push back forcefully against any efforts to privatize or destabilize this vital program. The people of this country are counting on you.