{"id":6747,"date":"2025-02-15T13:34:15","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T18:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=6747"},"modified":"2025-03-03T13:35:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T18:35:42","slug":"stay-engaged-and-informed-as-the-federal-government-makes-drastic-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-2\/stay-engaged-and-informed-as-the-federal-government-makes-drastic-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay engaged and informed as the federal government makes drastic cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PEFMarch 5, 2025 —<\/em> My fellow Retirees and Union Siblings, we are in uncharted times! I have just returned from Washington, D.C., where I attended an AFT Retirees Program & Policy Council as PEF\u2019s Representative.\u00a0 We had a three-day meeting where we discussed all the chaos and confusion coming out of the newly elected administration. We all want a better future for ourselves regardless of how we voted in the last election!\u00a0 I for one didn\u2019t vote for gutting and slashing government programs under the broad pretense of cutting waste and fraud.\u00a0 The American people didn\u2019t vote for chaotic and reckless attacks on federal workers, unions, kids, blue states, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, a reduction in research funding for cancer, S.N.A.P. for kids or Pell grants for education, and the list goes on and on!\u00a0 Our focus was on what we can do in our local chapter.\u00a0 The first thing I\u2019m doing is sharing the information below about a lawsuit AFT filed last month.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

SUIT FILED: In New Challenge, Retirees, Unions Seek to Block DOGE\u2019s Unprecedented, Unlawful Social Security Data, Power Grab\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AFSCME, Alliance for Retired Americans, AFT Challenge DOGE\u2019s Access, Executed by Unconfirmed, Acting Official, to Confidential, Private Data of Hundreds of Millions of Americans<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Suit filed on heels of SSA Acting Head\u2019s Departure Amid Concerns about DOGE Access to Data<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Baltimore, MD \u2014<\/span><\/b> In a lawsuit filed on Feb. 21, 2025, retirees and unions <\/span>sued<\/span><\/b><\/a> to halt DOGE\u2019s unprecedented, unlawful seizure of personal, confidential, private and sensitive data from the Social Security Administration, without any express authority. Such access has been granted by an unlawful acting official, installed at SSA with disregard for the rules governing such appointments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Social Security Administration maintains the financial data, employment information, medical data, and personal addresses of millions of Americans. The lawsuit alleges that such seizure by DOGE is prohibited by and in violation of the many protections Congress and the Executive Branch have in place to protect against such data mining and misuse. These include the Internal Revenue Code, the Privacy Act, the Federal Information Systems Modernization Act, the E-Government Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Social Security Administration holds the financial future of millions of Americans within its doors,\u201d said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. \u201cElon Musk is an unelected billionaire who has no right to access the benefits working people have paid into. We won\u2019t allow him to undermine the promise that we can all retire with dignity one day; that if we ever get hurt on the job and are unable to work, we won\u2019t go hungry. Social Security insurance belongs to taxpayers, not Musk \u2014 no matter how rich he is. We must stop him from gaining unfettered access to our future.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSocial Security is a sacred trust between the American people and the government.,\u201d said Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, a national grassroots advocacy organization. \u201cSeniors must be able to trust that the Social Security Administration will protect and safeguard their most personal financial and health data. We urge the court to act and ensure the American people\u2019s data is not misused. We cannot risk the catastrophic consequences should this very personal data fall into the wrong hands.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSocial Security is based on the promise that if you work hard and play by the rules you can retire with dignity and grace,\u201d said AFT President Randi Weingarten. \u201cEveryone who receives Social Security has contributed to it, and they expect the government to uphold its end of the bargain. Elon Musk is breaking that basic bond of trust by illegally raiding people\u2019s private data for his own ends. The financial future of hundreds of millions of Americans has essentially been hijacked by an addled and unelected billionaire intent on laying waste to the accounts working people have spent their lives building up. We\u2019re suing to stop him in his tracks.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans across the country should be able to have confidence that the government safeguards their data. Yet, over the course of the last month, we have seen a group of unappointed and unvetted individuals disregard the privacy of hundreds of millions of Americans,\u201d said Democracy Forward President & CEO Skye Perryman. \u201cWe are honored to represent retirees and worker representatives to protect the privacy and security of such critical data.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can read the full complaint <\/span>here<\/span><\/b><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0 Please continue to stay engaged and informed as the federal government continues to act in unprecedented ways.\u00a0 Also, a reminder that it is State budget negotiating season and <\/span>PEF has a packet of digital letters<\/span><\/a> you can send to your local lawmakers to support the union\u2019s priorities, including another attempt to cease paying the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount to some retirees.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 5, 2025 — My fellow Retirees and Union Siblings, we are in uncharted times! I have just returned from Washington, D.C., where I attended an AFT Retirees Program &…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"division":[],"allowed_regions":[],"allowed_divisions":[],"class_list":["post-6747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-43-no-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStay engaged and informed as the federal government makes drastic cuts - PEF Communicator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-43-no-2\/stay-engaged-and-informed-as-the-federal-government-makes-drastic-cuts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stay engaged and informed as the federal government makes drastic cuts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March 5, 2025 — My fellow Retirees and Union Siblings, we are in uncharted times! 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