Pascrell Celebrates Firing of Social Security Head

Pascrell was first House member demanding removal of Commissioner Andrew Saul and Deputy David Black for their war on cherished program

PATERSON, NJ – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, this evening celebrated President Joe Biden’s firing of Social Security Administration Commissioner Andrew Saul and the resignation of Deputy Commissioner David Black. Pascrell was the first House member to call for their ouster and had been demanding the move for months to protect Social Security.

“The leadership of the Social Security Administration under these men has been marked by a stunning streak of disregard, callousness, and destruction of the agency,” said Rep. Pascrell. “Saul and Black acted as foxes in the henhouse. Their agenda was not to protect Social Security but to impose cruelty on America’s seniors and disabled. Their removal is overdue and welcome.

“Once again, the President has moved with decisiveness to build a better nation. Social Security is in deep trouble. I look forward to the nomination of a new commissioner who will be a partner for the Biden Administration and be dedicated to protecting this program, not dismantling it. It’s a new day.”

Chairman Pascrell wrote to President Biden on March 5, urging the President to exercise his power and remove Saul and Black, both appointees of Donald Trump. The leadership of the SSA under Commissioner Saul and Deputy Commissioner Black has been marked by a series of damaging measures under their tenure, including:

• Proposing radical changes to make it significantly harder for older, severely disabled workers to be found eligible for SSA disability benefits.
• Blocking access to disability assistance to non-English speakers, with Commissioner Saul preposterously asserting the change would modernize the agency.
• Ratcheting up SSA’s volume of disability case reviews for Americans receiving Social Security disability insurance and Supplemental Security Income, a draconian proposal that would heap harm upon countless beneficiaries.
• Seeking to shift adjudication of disability hearings from impartial Administrative Law Judges to SSA staff attorneys, a measure that erodes judicial independence and eliminates due process protections for vulnerable Americans.

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