1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

The plan to rewrite the Social Security Administration's entire codebase within just a few months is extremely risky and could jeopardize the benefits that tens of millions of Americans rely on. The SSA systems contain over 60 million lines of COBOL code that has been continuously updated and patched for decades. Safely migrating that archaic code to a modern language like Java would typically take years of careful planning and execution by experienced engineers. Attempting to rush this process in a matter of months greatly increases the chances of costly errors and system failures that could prevent people from receiving their rightful benefits or calculating incorrect payment amounts. We request that this haphazard timeline be reconsidered to allow for a proper modernization effort that maintains the integrity and reliability of this critical social safety net program. Recklessly tampering with the SSA's complex legacy systems puts the financial security of our most vulnerable populations at unacceptable risk.