The top official at the Social Security Administration quit over the weekend because Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency wanted to see private records of Americans.
Michelle King, who had been acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration for 30 years and was in charge of the benefits that 73 million retirees and disabled people get, quit, according to the White House, according to USA Today.
According to USA Today, which was the first to report King’s departure, President Trump replaced King as acting commissioner with Leland Dudek, who has been in charge of Social Security’s anti-fraud office. Frank Bisignano, president and CEO of Fiserv, is Trump’s choice to lead the Social Security Administration full-time. He needs to be confirmed by the Senate.
“President Trump has nominated the highly qualified and talented Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration, and we expect him to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks,” spokesman Harrison Fields said in a statement. “In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner.”
“President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long,” Fields added.
Musk and his DOGE employees have been spreading out across federal governments to try to cut spending and get rid of the federal bureaucracy. This is when they got into a fight. In the past few days, DOGE has also tried to get direct access to IRS computer systems that store a lot of private information.
In several social media posts, Dudek, who is now acting head of Social Security, has praised DOGE’s work to cut government costs and look for fraud.
Musk has said that there is a lot of fraud in the Social Security Administration and that payments are being sent to dead Americans who are listed as 150 years old.
This comes as President Trump’s approval rating has managed to hold firm and remain in the positive exactly one month after taking office and amid a rapid introduction of his agenda.
Trump has recorded at least 50 percent approval ratings in three recent surveys, Newsweek reported, adding that the “surveys suggest that most Americans approve of the job the president is doing, despite other polls indicating that Trump’s favorability ratings have declined since his first few days back in office.”
A SurveyUSA poll of 2,000 adults found that a majority (51 percent) approve of Trump’s job as president, while 45 percent disapprove, giving him a net approval score of +6 points.
When analyzed by region, the results reveal that Trump enjoys stronger approval in rural areas (59 percent) compared to suburban (48 percent) and urban areas (51 percent).
The SurveyUSA poll was conducted between February 13 and 16, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
A separate Morning Consult poll, also released on Tuesday, showed that 50 percent of voters approve of Trump’s job as president, while 47 percent disapprove, Newsweek’s report continued.
Eli Yokley, U.S. politics analyst for Morning Consult, and Cameron Easley, head of U.S. political analysis, noted in their analysis that Trump’s approval rating has “stabilized” after three consecutive weeks of decline.
“The president’s approval and favorability ratings have stabilized following three straight declines week over week. Voters are slightly more likely to approve than disapprove of Trump’s job performance, 50% to 47%, and slightly more likely to view him unfavorably than favorably on a personal level, 49% to 48%,” Yokley told Newsweek. “Both figures represent marginal improvements from last week’s update and are similar to his numbers at the same point in his first term in office.”
The Morning Consult poll was conducted between February 14 and 16 among 2,217 registered voters.
Additionally, a recent survey from a Republican polling firm indicated that Trump maintains a strong approval rating.
The Napolitan News survey, conducted by Scott Rasmussen and RMG Research, showed Trump’s approval at 55 percent, with a disapproval rating of 43 percent, giving him a net approval score of +12 points, Newsweek added.
Trump’s approval rating among this group has remained above 50 percent since he returned to the White House on January 20, peaking at 57 percent during his inauguration week.
The Napolitan News poll surveyed 3,000 registered voters between February 10 and 14, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.