To the editor:

Recent news reports are reporting that the Social Security website has been “crashing” frequently, for periods of 20 minutes to almost a full work day. These outages are confirmed by current Social Security officials.

Social Security serves 73 million Americans, but Elon Musk has laid off 7,000 employees already and Musk is pushing for thousands more layoffs, including employees in Information Technology. Recipients have been told (incorrectly) that they don’t qualify for benefits they’ve been receiving. It’s only a matter of time before actual payments will be affected. I worked and contributed to the system since the age of 14 (I’m 77 now) and Social Security is a necessity for me. Needless to say, I (and millions of others, no doubt) are concerned.

I called Elise Stefanik’s office to ask if the Congresswoman was aware of this website crashing problem and the young man I spoke with said he would “pass my concerns on to the Congresswoman.” I asked how this was done: did they keep a spreadsheet, a tally sheet, enter my name and my concerns in a database? His reply: “I can’t disclose internal office procedures.” “Internal office procedures” — is it top secret that they use a database or spreadsheet, or maybe even a giant whiteboard where they put tally marks under issues/concerns using magic markers?

Why the secrecy, Congresswoman Stefanik? You won’t appear at town halls to answer questions or address concerns, and now, you’re shrouding “internal office procedures” in a cloud of “on a need to know basis.” In 2018, you were a finalist for an award for “Transparency” from the Congressional Management Council and you said this: “When I ran for Congress, I pledged to families across our district to be transparent and accountable. This is a tremendous honor and … [I] will continue working in Congress to ensure that lawmakers are responsive, accountable, and transparent.”

My, how things have changed.

Ann Munroe Mullen

Saranac Lake

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Sources:

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https://www.legistorm.com/stormfeed/view_rss/1182499/member/3054/title/stefanik-selected-as-finalist-for-transparency-and-accountability-award.html;

(Washington Post,https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/07/social-security-website-crashes-musk-trump/)