{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-gillibrand-wyden-push-to-protect-beneficiaries-from-fraud-abuse", "ICYMI: Gillibrand, Wyden Push to Protect Beneficiaries From Fraud, Abuse", "2025-10-23", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", "warren", "https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "ICYMI: Gillibrand, Wyden Push to Protect Beneficiaries From Fraud, Abuse\n\nCuts at the Social Security Administration have significantly delayed representative payee reviews, putting beneficiaries at risk of fraud and abuse\n\nSenate Dems\u2019 Social Security War Room is a coordinated effort to fight back against Trump admin Social Security attacks\n\nText of Letter (PDF)\n\nWashington, D.C. - Senate Aging Committee Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are demanding answers about how Trump administration cuts and reorganizations at the Social Security Administration (SSA) have delayed the representative payee review process, putting Social Security beneficiaries at risk of fraud and abuse.\n\nRepresentative payees manage Social Security payments for beneficiaries who are unable to do so on their own, helping some of Social Security\u2019s most vulnerable beneficiaries receive and access their benefits. Recent reports have indicated that Trump administration cuts and reassignments at SSA have significantly delayed the approval process for representative payee reviews, undermining vital efforts to protect beneficiaries from Social Security fraud and putting vulnerable beneficiaries at financial risk.\n\n\u201cRepresentative payees are entrusted with sensitive information so they can help the most vulnerable Social Security beneficiaries manage their benefits. We must make sure that these representatives cannot take advantage of the beneficiaries that they are supposed to protect,\u201d wrote Senator Gillibrand. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m demanding answers about how Trump administration cuts and organizational changes are impacting the ability of P&As to guard against fraud and abuse.\n\nThey can be individuals such as spouses, parents, or relatives, or they can be organizations such as businesses or social services agencies. Because representative payees play an integral and sensitive role, SSA partners with state Protection & Advocacy organizations (P&As) to routinely monitor representative payee performance and guard against fraud and abuse. This week, Senators Gillibrand and Wyden asked the 57 P&As in the United States how the Trump administration\u2019s staff reductions and management changes at SSA are impacting their ability to protect beneficiaries from fraud and abuse by the representative payees designated to assist them.\n\n\u201cState Protection & Advocacy agencies, like Disability Rights Oregon, are the indispensable watchdogs, protecting seniors and people with disabilities from abuse and neglect from those entrusted with their wellbeing, which is why we passed a bipartisan law in 2018 to deputize these agencies to go after bad actors in behalf of SSA,\u201d Senator Wyden continued. \u201cHowever, we have received disturbing reports that Trump and DOGE\u2019s disastrous cuts have left these state agencies paralyzed and ultimately left our most vulnerable unprotected.\u201d\n\nSenate Dems\u2019 Social Security War Room coordinates messaging across the Senate Democratic Caucus and external stakeholders, encourages grassroots engagement by providing opportunities for Americans to share what Social Security means to them, and educates Senate staff, the American public, and stakeholders about Republicans\u2019 agenda and their continued cuts to Americans\u2019 Social Security services and benefits.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/icymi-gillibrand-wyden-push-to-protect-beneficiaries-from-fraud-abuse"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.011953853070736, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}