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President Biden fired the Social Security Administration Commissioner Andrew Saul on Friday, July 9, 2021. President Trump appointed Saul in 2019 for a six-year term, set to end in 2025. Biden has not nominated a new Commissioner. He appointed Kilolo Kijakazi as Acting Commissioner.
Why did President Biden fire Commissioner Saul?
Before going further, it is important to understand that this decision involves politics along with different expectations for the Social Security Administration under presidents of different political parties.
Saul embraced a different vision for the Social Security Administration than Biden. During Saul’s tenure, SSA upset employees by altering hours and eliminating telework – until the pandemic brought it back. SSA also took aggressive positions against employee unions and eliminated the merit-based hiring process for administrative law judges.
The Social Security Disability Insurance program, under Saul, emphasized disability reviews and investigating overpayments. These efforts increased the Social Security Administration’s funds. SSA attempted to shift away from independent administrative law judges, and established or proposed rules that would increase the difficulty of qualifying for benefits. These efforts would have reduced SSA’s expenses. Although these efforts were financially beneficial, some members of Congress and many advocacy groups opposed them.
President Biden prefers a different approach and that is why he removed Saul’s leadership team. Presidents frequently change agency leaders after taking office, although this is new for the Social Security Administration.
Did President Biden have this authority to make this change?
President Trump appointed Saul to a six-year term as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration with Senate approval. Congress intended to separate the Commissioner from political appointment by making the term six years and requiring cause for dismissal. Several agencies had similar protections in place for leadership.
The Supreme Court has struck down such protections as an unconstitutional impediment of the executive branch by the legislative branch, consistent with the unitary executive theory. Under the current interpretation of administrative law, the president has the right to appoint or remove the leader of an agency such as the Social Security Administration.
Since the Supreme Court only recently clarified this rule, Saul is the first Social Security Commissioner removed this way. Biden did have the authority based upon recent Court rulings to fire Saul. It is a newly recognized authority and has strong support in case law.
Was this an appropriate action for President Biden to take?
President Biden is head of the executive branch of government and the Social Security Administration is part of that branch. It is reasonable for Biden to want a commissioner whose leadership aligns with his policies. If Biden did not believe Saul fit that description, replacing Saul makes sense since Biden possesses the authority to make this change.
Some have complained that Biden’s action has “politicized” the Social Security Administration. Politicians have fought over the SSA since its proposal, and politicians blocked the disability program until President Eisenhower’s administration.
Commissioners are political appointments. Saul had no connection to SSA before his appointment. The Senate would not approve President Obama’s nominations for the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, resulting in six years without a commissioner. The SSA and politics are linked. And the SSA is one of the largest government agencies in the world – running one of the largest judicial systems in the world.
Should Andrew Saul fight his dismissal?
It is unfortunate an alternate exit strategy eluded Biden and Saul. While Saul previously had no connection with the SSA, he served as the chair of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board after being nominated by President George W. Bush.
Saul has vowed to fight his dismissal. He lacks, however, much authority to mount a successful challenge. Biden prepared for a challenge by soliciting an advisory opinion from his legal team and by structuring the dismissal so it could defensibly be a dismissal for cause. Some political theater may ensue but, most likely, nothing will change.
The Social Security Administration’s Future
Acting Commissioner Kijakazi will likely approach many issues differently than the prior commissioner. For instance, the SSA’s posture toward unions may become less adversarial. President Biden indicated he wants to address certain issues within SSA, and he likely prefers Kijakazi as the leader in that attempt.
It is too early to tell if there will be any material changes at the Social Security Administration. Most importantly, the change at the top will not impact the SSA’s daily business with retirement, disability, SSI, and other programs for a long time, if at all.
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