Reader offers perspective on government employee cuts

To the Editor:

I worked for the Social Security Administration for over 37 years, retiring as the manager of the Rhinelander office. Based on that perspective I’d like to share my views on the current turmoil in federal agencies and the firing of federal employees.

First, the employees at your local SSA office are not part of any “deep state” conspiracy. They have been hired throughout the administrations of both Republicans and Democrats. They are hired through merit systems independent of any loyalty test or bias.

This is true for the vast majority of government employees.

Second, the recent data about massive numbers of 150-year-old people receiving benefits is false.  The people who are generating those figures based on a superficial scanning of SSA records know the numbers are false. They are using misleading information to make headlines and talking points in order to further their objectives. Imagine how demoralizing it is to hear your boss falsely accusing you of being incompetent, unnecessary and even corrupt.

Finally, employees at SSA are like any other employees. They work hard and take pride in providing the best, most accurate service they can. But over the course of my career their numbers dropped from close to 70,000 down to 58,000 currently. The reduction in staffing has resulted in funneling telephone calls to remote call centers and delays in some workloads. 

Further reductions might result in closing some local offices like Rhinelander.

The job of Congress to is evaluate programs. They are responsible for passing legislation and budgets to achieve their goals. Their decisions on changing the role of the government need to be carefully considered. Unfortunately that is not the way things are being done right now.

Jeff Wallace

Rhinelander