Lee Dudek, the acting Social Security commissioner placed in the role by President Donald Trump, said Wednesday that people older than age 100 "are not necessarily receiving" Social Security benefits, despite comments made by Elon Musk and Trump on social media and in press briefings about centenarians receiving monthly payouts.
"The reported data are people in our records with a Social Security number who do not have a date of death associated with their record. These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits," Dudek said in a statement.
Trump said at a briefing in Florida that “we have millions and millions of people over 100 years old” receiving Social Security benefits, The Associated Press reported. “They’re obviously fraudulent or incompetent."
“If you take all of those millions of people off Social Security, all of a sudden we have a very powerful Social Security with people that are 80 and 70 and 90, but not 200 years old,” Trump said, according to the AP.
Trump also said that there was one person in the system listed as 360 years old.
Further, Dudek said in the statement that personnel from Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, "CANNOT make changes to agency systems, benefit payments, or other information. They only have READ access."
DOGE personnel also "must follow the law and if they violate the law they will be referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution," Dudek said.
Dudek stated that he was “honored and humbled to be appointed Social Security's Acting Commissioner pending Senate confirmation of Frank Bisignano to be SSA's next Commissioner." He added that 'openness, transparency, and accountability are tenets of good government and demonstrating them begins with me."
Said Dudek: "The law matters and we will follow it: I have invited the Government Accountability Office, the non-partisan and independent agency that works for Congress, to observe how we conduct agency business."
DOGE "is a critical part of President Trump's commitment to identifying fraud, waste, and abuse, and better ways for the government to function to support its people," Dudek said. "Our continuing priority is paying beneficiaries the right amount at the right time, and providing other critical services people rely on from us."
Credit: Adobe Stock
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.