Press Releases

Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) and Rep. John Larson (CT-01), Ranking Member of the House Social Security Subcommittee, are leading 74 House Democrats in demanding answers on the impact of broad Social Security Administration staff reassignments.

Earlier this year, SSA reassigned employees from its Disability Adjudication, Financial and Management, Field Office Services, Risk and Quality, Digital Services, and Chief Information Officer units to assist in monitoring its public call-in phone line in an attempt to address high wait times. These staff cuts have resulted in reduced in-person services, office closures, and service delays for beneficiaries.

“We write to express our deep concern with the Social Security Administration’s decision to reassign thousands of Social Security Administration (SSA) employees away from their primary, essential duties in order to address excessive wait times on SSA’s toll-free number for customer service,” the members wrote. “While we understand the need to reduce wait times for calls, the blanket reassignment of personnel from other high-priority tasks appears to have exacerbated backlogs and extended overdue processing times in other critical areas of the SSA. We, along with our constituents, are gravely concerned that these reassignments are creating new barriers to prompt service and delivery of benefits to the public, and request additional information on the full impact of this policy.”

“These employee reassignments have the potential to cause massive service delays and add to SSA’s already overwhelming case backlog, which stands at 6 million pending cases at SSA processing centers and 12 million transactions in field offices,” the members continued. “While on paper, the reassignment may shorten wait times for calls regarding unprocessed claims and paperwork, if the people responsible for processing those claims are unable to do their jobs, it will only delay the receipt of benefits and lead to worse outcomes for the individuals SSA is meant to serve.”

Reassigned employees are also receiving less-than-adequate training - often only receiving three hours of training before being assigned to phone duties the same day - and are unable to professionally handle cases for individuals in crisis or with time-sensitive needs. With a loss of 74,000 employees due to staffing cuts in 2025, the reassignment of employees with little to no training is a major concern.

“Under these circumstances, reassigning staff away from critical benefit processing is deeply harmful to the 73.9 million retirees, disabled workers, their spouses, and their children who rely on Social Security’s assistance,” the members concluded.

The members requested information regarding the impact of the staff changes, including:

1. What does the training given to displaced staff include?

2. What impact does SSA project the staff reassignments will have on field office  appointment times?

3. What has the impact of this reassignment been on caller satisfaction rates?

4. What other assessments is the SSA conducting to track the efficacy and impact of reassignments?

Find the full letter here.

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