Oregon Senator Demands Investigative Hearing as Musk’s DOGE Threatens Social Security Payments for 73 Million Americans

The disregard with which Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) treats the Social Security Administration (SSA) threatens to disrupt and delay payments, prompting Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Democrats, to call for an investigative hearing.

Social Security Administration Pays Disability Benefits to +73 Million Americans

Wyden’s request to Chair Mike Crapo. R-Idaho is supported by all Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee and follows the recent resignation of the SSA’s acting commissioner, Michelle King after Musk’s DOGE sought access to records containing sensitive private information.

After clashing with Musk, King resigned after 30 years with the agency that administers disability benefits paid to more than 73 million people.

The Senate Finance Committee Democrats are concerned about Musk’s demands for full access to sensitive information and his plans to lay off workers and close some SSA offices.

They warned that DOGE’s actions could threaten the financial security of working families who will be prevented from accessing earned benefits.

Sen. Wyden has been forceful in his opposition to DOGE and condemned the mass layoffs of Social Security workers.

The letter to Senate Finance Committee Chair Crapo states that the Social Security agency workforce ‘is at a 50-year low’ and that the potential loss of decades of experience will not only risk an interruption of benefit payments but will also worsen backlogs and result in longer wait periods.