During his press conference, Schumer slammed Dudek, claiming the SSA chief has allowed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to make disastrous cuts to the retirement program and calling him “bad medicine for our seniors.” 

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have a hatchet man in Leland Dudek, an acting Commissioner with an emphasis on the ‘acting,’ because his real role is to dismantle the very office he is supposed to lead, make better, and protect,” he said. “We have seen his audition and his work on the stage, and it is clear: Dudek is incapable of doing this job in the way it needs to be done. He won’t protect seniors. He will hurt them. Leland Dudek should resign.”

In a series of posts to X, Schumer reiterated the attacks on Dudek and claimed Musk is using DOGE to “kill” Social Security. 

“Leland Dudek has granted DOGE access to private data systems and deeply personal information, laid off thousands of staff, and closed critical offices,” the Senate’s top Democrat alleged. “He is incapable of doing the job in the way it needs to be done.“

“The GOP is trying to dismantle Social Security from the inside,” he said in another statement. “They’re closing offices, firing workers, and cutting phone lines, making it harder for people to get their benefits.”

DOGE recommended Dudek end a policy allowing people to verify their identity over the phone to obtain SSA benefits. During an interview last month, DOGE employee Aram Moghaddassi argued that the policy change was necessary because fraudsters were using the option to steal identities and taxpayer dollars.

Dudek initially announced plans to implement DOGE’s recommendation of ending identification verification over the phone. However, the agency later scaled back the changes earlier this month. Under the new system, people will still be able to verify their identification over the phone, but the SSA will conduct an anti-fraud check on all claims filed over the phone and will require in-person ID proofing for any claims flagged as possibly fraudulent. 

Dudek has worked with DOGE to implement measures they hope will streamline the agency and make it run more efficiently, including laying off thousands of employees and scaling back the number of Social Security offices. 

Musk has raised concerns about information he says DOGE has discovered during “cursory” examinations, revealing alleged dysfunctions in Social Security’s infrastructure. 

LABOR DEPARTMENT TOUTS DOGE’S ‘INCREDIBLE DISCOVERY’ OF NEARLY $400 MILLION IN FRAUDULENT UNEMPLOYMENT PAYMENTS

“Why are the 20 million people who are definitely dead marked as alive in the Social Security database? Why were hundreds of hundreds of millions of dollars of Small Business Administration loans given out to people aged 11 and under, according to the Social Security data?” Musk questioned during a Fox Business Network interview. “Like these must be some very enterprising 8-year-olds. You know, some pretty strong 150-year-olds.” 

Musk previously said during an appearance in the Oval Office alongside Trump that there were “a whole bunch of Social Security payments where there’s no identifying information.”