Andrew Saul, the Social Security Commissioner President Biden fired on Friday, is vowing to fight his termination given he was appointed to a six-year term by former President Trump in 2019.
“This was the first I or my deputy knew this was coming,” he said, referring to the email he received from the White House Personnel Office on Friday. “It was a bolt of lightning no one expected. And right now it’s left the agency in complete turmoil.”
Saul’s firing came after he refused to resign, though his deputy, David Black, did step down upon the administration’s request.
“I consider myself the term-protected commissioner of Social Security,” he told The Washington Post—adding that he plans to sign into work remotely on Monday.
Saul’s tenure at the SSA, an independent agency, was seen as controversial by Democrats, who took issue with his policies “designed to clamp down on benefits and an uncompromising anti-union stance,” the Post reports. A White House statement listed other problems the Biden administration saw with him.
“Since taking office, Commissioner Saul has undermined and politicized Social Security disability benefits, terminated the agency’s telework policy that was utilized by up to 25 percent of the agency’s workforce, not repaired SSA’s relationships with relevant Federal employee unions including in the context of COVID-19 workplace safety planning, reduced due process protections for benefits appeals hearings, and taken other actions that run contrary to the mission of the agency and the President’s policy agenda,” the statement said.
The White House also defending its right to fire Saul, pointing to “a recent Supreme Court ruling, followed by a Justice Department memo on Thursday affirming the president’s authority ‘to remove the SSA Commissioner at will,’” according to the Post.
Senate Republicans blasted Saul’s firing on Twitter.
I agree with @ChuckGrassley. This removal would be an unprecedented and dangerous politicization of the Social Security Administration. https://t.co/Y33G4YoZKf
— Leader McConnell (@LeaderMcConnell) July 9, 2021