U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-8) wrote to the Social Security Administration (SSA) Tuesday “with deep concern” that the administration’s online portal was not available Monday.
“My constituents have been calling my office nonstop to express their fears of a disruption to their Social Security, Medicare and other earned benefits after an unelected billionaire and his unvetted staff exercised an unprecedented takeover of the U.S. government’s system of payments,” Raskin said.
Raskin called for “a full account of the reported outage,” which he said appeared temporary. As of Tuesday afternoon, he had not yet received a response.
The portal appeared to be working Tuesday afternoon.
According to Raskin, the outage “follows an unauthorized takeover of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s payment management system by billionaire and close Trump adviser Elon Musk and his allies, unknown individuals who may lack appropriate security clearances, according to recent reporting.”
More than 123,000 residents of Maryland’s 8th District receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits from SSA each month, according to Raskin.
“The mySSA online portal is intended to facilitate easy access to both Social Security and Medicare benefits information—in addition to accompanying tax information—for every eligible American,” Raskin wrote in the letter that was addressed to Acting Commissioner [Michelle] King.
“Ensuring reliable access to this portal is both a critical part of upholding the public’s trust in their government and fundamental to the faithful execution of the laws passed by Congress,” Raskin wrote.
The letter asks King to provide Raskin’s office with information about the reported mySSA outage, including its duration and the number of affected users, and what steps SSA is taking to prevent future unforeseen mySSA outages.
mySSA portal is a free online benefits portal where Americans can check the status of their benefits applications and access proof of their benefits, among other tasks.
