Emails indicate that the Social Security Administration (SSA) canceled contracts with the state of Maine in apparent political retribution against its Democratic governor, Janet Mills.
A week after Mills publicly clashed with former President Donald Trump at the White House over transgender athletes in girls’ sports, Leland Dudek, the acting commissioner of Social Security, inquired about the agency’s contracts with Maine.
The SSA maintains vital records contracts with every state, enabling parents to request Social Security numbers for newborns at hospitals and allowing electronic verification of deaths.
According to emails obtained by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va..), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, SSA staff warned Dudek that canceling these contracts could increase improper payments and raise the risk of identity theft. Despite these concerns, Dudek ordered the cancellation.
“Please cancel the contracts. While our improper payments will go up, and fraudsters may compromise identities, no money will go from the public trust to a petulant child,” Dudek wrote, referring to Mills.
Ending the contracts disrupted the federal government’s ability to track births and deaths in Maine, making it harder to prevent fraud. Many government agencies rely on Social Security records to prevent improper payments.
Connolly called for Dudek’s immediate resignation.
“The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration should serve the American people, not create waste, fraud, and abuse on the taxpayer’s dime,” Connolly wrote in a letter outlining the email exchanges.
The SSA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, the White House defended Dudek’s actions, framing them as a response to Mills’ policies.
“Governor Mills would rather cater to the anti-science and anti-women lunatics of the transgender movement than uphold her constitutional obligations,” White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in an emailed statement. “
President Trump has been clear in his demands, and the ball is in the Governor’s court. Choosing the rights of men who want to dominate women’s sports over the rights of vulnerable women and girls while blatantly ignoring federal law will not end well for the Governor, and the people of Maine deserve better.”
Dudek later admitted to HuffPost that he had been “upset” with Mills but claimed the contracts seemed “strange” to him. Despite acknowledging that canceling them was a mistake, his internal email suggested otherwise.
Following the cancellation, Maine officials announced that parents could no longer request Social Security numbers for newborns when filling out birth certificate paperwork at hospitals—a process used for 99% of new births in the U.S.
“As a result of SSA’s contract termination, effective immediately, Maine hospitals are no longer able to enroll newborns into Social Security at the time of birth.
Parents must now visit their local Social Security office to apply in person for their child’s Social Security number,” a spokesperson for Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services stated at the time.
Amid backlash from pediatricians and pressure from Maine’s congressional delegation, Dudek reinstated the contracts less than 24 hours later. He claimed he had not intended to impose an “undue burden” on Maine residents.
Dudek, a former mid-level IT staffer at SSA, was previously placed on administrative leave for helping Elon Musk’s DOGE team access sensitive agency databases.
The Trump administration later appointed him to lead the SSA after senior officials refused to cooperate with Musk’s team.
Last month, Dudek threatened to shut down the SSA entirely after a federal judge ordered DOGE affiliates to withdraw from Social Security databases containing Americans’ personal information.
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