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Social Security Administration acting commissioner Lee Dudek reversed his stance late Friday after telling multiple media outlets a court order may force him to halt the agency’s operations.
“I am not shutting down the agency,” Dudek said in a written statement, adding that he had received clarifying guidance from the court.
Earlier in the day, Dudek had said an order barring the agency from giving DOGE team members access to personal data may require him to cut off all employees’ data access.

A sign for the U.S. Social Security Administration is seen outside its headquarters in Woodlawn, Md., on Thursday, March 20, 2025. 
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

The Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner reversed his stance late Friday after telling multiple news outlets that a new court ruling may require him to shut down the agency’s operations.
Acting Commissioner Lee Dudek said in a written statement that the court “issued clarifying guidance” about its earlier temporary restraining order barring members of the Trump administration’s DOGE team from having access to private data.

“Therefore, I am not shutting down the agency,” he said. “SSA employees and their work will continue under the TRO.”
On Thursday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the cost-cutting initiative known as the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing individuals’ personal data at the Social Security Administration. Dudek said in interviews afterward that the ruling may require him to cut off access to all the agency’s employees.
“Everything in this agency is [personally identifiable information],” Dudek told The Washington Post on Friday. “Unless I get clarification, I’ll just start to shut it down. I don’t have much of a choice here.”
In her ruling, judge Ellen Lipton Hollander barred Social Security Administration employees including Dudek from granting the DOGE team access to information that can be used to identify individuals. DOGE is not a Cabinet department, and its leader, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, is considered a special government employee.
Hollander also ordered DOGE team members to delete all non-anonymized personally identifiable information they have accessed “directly or indirectly” since Jan. 20.

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Following the ruling, Dudek said the court order is so broad that it could apply to any Social Security employee, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
“My anti-fraud team would be DOGE affiliates. My IT staff would be DOGE affiliates,” Dudek told Bloomberg. “As it stands, I will follow it exactly and terminate access by all SSA employees to our IT systems.”
However, in a March 18 letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Dudek said there are only 11 DOGE-affiliated individuals at the Social Security Administration.
Warren, in a written statement, said, “The Trump administration is threatening to shut down all of Social Security simply because a judge ruled to block 11 DOGE employees from sticking their fingers in taxpayers’ private information.”
Dudek also said he would ask the judge to immediately clarify the order, the news outlet reported.
“We have received the court order and we will comply,” a Social Security spokesperson said in an email statement to CNBC on Friday. The agency did not respond directly to questions from CNBC on Dudek’s comments, or make Dudek available for an interview.

Advocacy groups slam Social Security leadership

The Social Security Administration sends millions of benefit checks per month to retirement and disability program beneficiaries, both through Social Security and Supplemental Security Income.
Dudek’s comments, and the implications that the court actions could interfere with the timely delivery of benefits, prompted a wave of responses from advocacy groups.
“For almost 90 years, Social Security has never missed a paycheck — but 60 days into this administration, Social Security is now on the brink,” Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said in a statement in response to Dudek’s comments. Hollander’s ruling was in a lawsuit that a coalition of unions and retirees, including AFSCME, a trade union, brought against the Social Security Administration.
Dudek “has proven again that he is in way over his head,” said Saunders. He said that under Dudek’s leadership the agency has compromised Americans’ security, shut down certain agency services and planned layoffs.
In a separate statement, Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, said Dudek’s leadership has been the “darkest in Social Security’s nearly 90 year history.”
“He has sown chaos and destruction,” Altman said.

In a memo sent to Social Security staff members Tuesday that was obtained by NBC News, Dudek apologized for having made mistakes and promised to learn from them.
Dudek assumed the role of acting commissioner in February when then acting commissioner Michelle King stepped down due to DOGE privacy concerns. Dudek, a long-time Social Security employee, reportedly publicly disclosed he had been placed on administrative leave for cooperating with DOGE.
Trump has nominated Frank Bisignano, CEO of payments technology company Fiserv, to serve as commissioner. Bisignano’s Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

Democrats, Republicans at odds over Social Security

Tensions surrounding changes at the Social Security Administration have prompted a war of words between Democrats and Republicans in Congress.
House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Richard Neal, D-Mass., on March 19 put out a statement that called the current situation at the Social Security Administration a “five-alarm fire.” New changes that may limit customer service and restrict benefit access are “not just burdensome for our nation’s seniors and people with disabilities — they are back-door benefit cuts,” Neal wrote.

Meanwhile, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., in a March 12 statement said Democrats are “scaremongering to score political points,” while “the facts are not on their side.”
“President Trump did not touch Social Security benefits during his first term,” Smith said. “House Republicans and President Trump remain committed to protecting and preserving the retirement benefits seniors count on.” More

On Thursday, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang clarified comments from earlier this year that rattled investors in quantum computing stocks during the company’s first-ever “Quantum Day.”
While Huang was aiming to soothe investors rattled by his prior statement, Thursday’s event did not appear to help the case for quantum stocks.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang interviews executives from quantum computing firms at Nvidia’s annual developer conference in San Jose, California, on March 20, 2025.
Stephen Nellis | Reuters

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang spoke at the chipmaker’s annual conference on Thursday, aiming to walk back past comments on the decadeslong timeline needed for useful quantum computers.
But his latest foray into the quantum world appeared to have the opposite effect. Despite Huang’s public change of tune, several key stocks in the sector tumbled on Thursday, with D-Wave tanking 18% and the Quantum Defiance ETF (QTUM) dropping 2%.

At Nvidia’s first-ever “Quantum Day” event on Thursday, Huang said his January statements on quantum needing at least 15 years to become useful technology did not land as he intended. Huang also said he was surprised to see his commentary move public markets as it did in January.
“This is the first event in history where a company CEO invites all of the guests to explain why he was wrong,” Huang said Thursday.
In a show of support for the industry, Huang was joined by executives from several major quantum firms for a session, which is part of the megacap tech titan’s annual gathering called GTC happening this week. Nvidia’s announcement that it was hosting this “Quantum Day” had originally helped spark a recovery rally for the sector in January.
Huang said in January that 15 years was “on the early side” when laying out when to expect quantum computing technology would be deemed useful, prompting a sell-off in the sector. An expectation of 20 years is considered more reasonable, the CEO had said.
While Huang was aiming to soothe investors rattled by those prior comments, Thursday’s event did not appear to help the case for quantum stocks.

Even companies that accepted invitations to have executives join Huang on stage saw their shares fall. In addition to D-Wave’s plunge, Rigetti Computing and IonQ each dropped more than 9% on Thursday.

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D-Wave, Rigetti and IonQ, 1-day

Needham analyst Quinn Bolton told clients that Huang’s insinuation about quantum’s branding was “one of the most contested portions” of the event. Tied to this, Bolton said, was the CEO’s belief that quantum computing should be marketed as a special tool that works alongside classical systems as opposed to a replacement.
“Jensen raised the idea that quantum computing might be poorly positioned, as calling a quantum system a computer sets unrealistic expectations,” Bolton said.
Nvidia has benefited from the rise of quantum, as research on this type of computer is done through simulators on powerful devices like what the company sells. The company is working on making technology to integrate graphics processing units, known in short as GPUs, with chips for quantum computing.
This week, Nvidia announced that it would build a research center in Boston where quantum companies can work with researchers at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Huang offered positive statements around the possible effect of quantum if it can be fully realized. But investors still appear skeptical on the sector, with the Quantum Defiance ETF down more than 4% this year.
“Of course, quantum computing has the potential and all of our hopes that it will deliver extraordinary impact,” Huang said during Thursday’s event. “But the technology is insanely complicated.”
— CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this report.

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Janet Rilling heads the plus fixed -income team at Allspring Global Investments.
Courtesy: Allspring Global Investments

Janet Rilling’s path to success started with her first investment as a teenager.
Today the Wisconsin native, a senior portfolio manager and head of the plus fixed income team at Allspring Global Investments, is among the top female fund managers named at Morningstar.

Rilling’s interest in finance was spurred by her father.
“He did personal investing and around the dinner table, we’d have conversations,” Rilling said.
She opened her first certificate of deposit when she was 16 and bought her first mutual fund in an individual retirement account while at college.
Rilling now has 30 years of fixed-income experience under her belt, to go along with a masters in finance from the University of Wisconsin and CPA and CFA designations. Working out of Allspring’s Milwaukee office, Rilling stands out not just because of what Morningstar calls her “impressive career,” but because she is still in the minority when it comes to gender. Only 18% of portfolio managers and 26% of analysts are filled by women, a recent Morningstar survey found.
“I find this industry to be so compelling to be a part of, and I think women can bring a lot to it and also get a lot out of it,” Rilling said. “So it has been surprising to me that during my time in this industry, those numbers haven’t moved a lot.”

Putting her investment strategy to work
These days, she is finding plenty of opportunities in fixed income, noting that yields are providing attractive payouts.
“The beauty of that income is it’s a cushion. So in the event that rates do move up from here, you do have some income that can help offset that,” she said. “That’s what gives us more confidence to be more constructive on fixed income in this environment.”
As head of the plus fixed income team, Rilling manages 23 investment professionals. She is also a manager of the Allspring Core Plus Bond fund, which gets four stars at Morningstar. The fund has a 4.29% 30-day SEC yield and 0.81% gross expense ratio.
It is in the top quartile in its category for trailing 5-, 10- and 15-year returns, according to Morningstar. However, its performance so far this year lands it in the third quartile.

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Allspring Core Plus Bond Fund (A shares)

“The team plies a sound and well-structured approach that uses qualitative views to adjust quantitative outputs,” Morningstar senior analyst Mike Mulach wrote in May.
The fund tilts towards high-quality income. Rilling said the process is very collaborative, with individuals bringing their unique views to the table. Her focus is on the investment-grade portion of the portfolio.
“As a group, we talk across all the sectors and, as a team, we set our targets for allocating to the sectors,” she said.
The “core” part of the fund makes up at least 65% of the portfolio and is allocated to sectors within the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index. That includes Treasurys, agency mortgage-backed securities, investment-grade corporate bonds and structured products.

Up to 35% is in the “plus” part of the fund. That includes U.S. high yield, emerging market debt and European credit.
“We think about casting a wide net there,” Rilling said. “We want to use a lot of the different global fixed-income sectors within the plus piece, because we think that leads to a more diversified source of alpha and can help us with having a more consistent return profile.”
These days, the “plus” allocations make up just about 12% of the fund because valuations look rich, she said.
“No one sector screens as especially cheap, but we think the incremental yield across them is worth having an allocation,” she said.
Some 3.3% is in U.S. high-yield bonds and 2.3% is in emerging markets. About 2% is in European investment-grade credit and 2.6% in European high-yield.
The firm also launched an exchange-traded fund version of the strategy, Allspring Core Plus ETF (APLU), in December. It has a 4.74% 30-day SEC yield and a 0.30% expense ratio.
Where she sees opportunity
These days, Rilling favors a number of different structured products, including agency mortgage-backed securities .
“If you look at valuations over the last cycle, they’re a little more middle of the range compared to investment grade credit, which is near the tightest it’s been during this last historical period,” she said. “We think there are some supply/demand dynamics that also offer support to the asset class as we move through 2025.”
She also likes asset-backed securities, including some “plain vanilla” exposures like credit-card-backed and auto deals. In addition, “esoteric” — or less standard — holdings can also be attractive right now, she said.
“They are things like data centers, loans to franchisees … just a range of exposures that are consumer-related or business-related,” Rilling said. “We like the fundamentals of that part of the market, and we think compensation is good.”
The fund also has a modest allocation to commercial mortgage-backed securities. While they may be controversial to some because of issues in the office market, the sector has more to offer, such as retail and hospitality properties, she said.
“We’ve been opportunistic where we think things have been the baby thrown out with the bathwater,” Rilling said. “We have picked up some individual securities that we think offer better value than what we’re seeing in other parts of the fixed income market.”

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President Donald Trump said Friday that the Small Business Administration, instead of the Education Department, would handle the country’s student loans.

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 21, 2025. 
Carlos Barria | Reuters

President Donald Trump said Friday that the Small Business Administration, instead of the U.S. Department of Education, would handle the country’s federal student loan portfolio.
“We have a portfolio that is very large, lots of loans, tens of thousands of loans, pretty complicated deal,” Trump said, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office. “That’s coming out of the Department of Education immediately.”

“They’re all set for it,” the president said of the SBA. “They’re waiting for it.”
Outstanding federal education debt exceeds $1.6 trillion, with more than 40 million Americans holding student loans.
Trump’s announcement comes a day after he signed an executive order aimed at dismantling the Education Department. Only Congress can unilaterally eliminate the agency.
More from Personal Finance:Americans lost $5.7 billion to investment fraud in 2024Don’t hide cash at home — what to do insteadHow to manage your student loan payments after a layoff
Consumer advocates are worried that the mass transfer of accounts could trigger errors, or compromise borrowers’ privacy. They also raised concerns about how a change in agency might affect protections and programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

Trump said earlier this month that his administration was looking to task any of the Treasury Department, Commerce Department or the Small Business Administration with federal student loan management.
Experts said the most logical agency would have been the Treasury Department, since it already plays a role in collecting past-due debts from Americans through the Treasury Offset Program.
Meanwhile, “neither Commerce nor SBA has any relevant experience,” higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz told CNBC this month.
One important thing for borrowers keep in mind: The terms and conditions of your federal student loans cannot change even if the agency overseeing them does, experts say. Your rights were guaranteed when you signed the master promissory note at the time your loans were originated.

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A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order barring Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team from getting access to personally identifiable information from the Social Security Administration.
Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander accused DOGE of launching a “fishing expedition” at the Social Security agency and failing to provide any reason why it needed to access vast swaths of Americans’ personal and private data.
“The defense does not appear to share a privacy concern for the millions of Americans whose SSA records were made available to the DOGE affiliates, without their consent,” the judge wrote.

A sign in front of the entrance of the Security Administration’s main campus on March 19, 2025 in Woodlawn, Maryland. 
Kayla Bartkowski | Getty Images

A federal judge Thursday issued a temporary restraining order barring Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency team from having access to personally identifiable information from the Social Security Administration.
Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander in a scathing ruling accused DOGE of launching a “fishing expedition” at the Social Security agency and failing to provide any reason why it needed to access vast swaths of Americans’ personal and private data.

Hollander said the “defendants, with so called experts on the DOGE Team” never identify or articulate a reason why DOGE needs “unlimited access to SSA’s entire record systems, thereby exposing personal, confidential, sensitive, and private information that millions of Americans entrusted to their government.”
The order in U.S. District Court in Baltimore blocks the Social Security Administration, acting Commissioner Leland Dudek and Chief Information Officer Michael Russo, as well as all related agents and employees working with them, from granting access to any system containing personally identifiable information.
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Per the lawsuit, personally identifiable information is defined as information that can be used to identify an individual, either on its own or when combined with other information. That includes Social Security numbers, medical provider information, medical and mental health treatment records, employer and employee payment records, employee earnings, addresses, bank records and tax information.
The judge also ordered the DOGE team members and affiliates to delete all non-anonymized personally identifiable information in their possession or control that they have accessed “directly or indirectly” since Jan. 20.

The lawsuit was brought by a coalition of unions and retirees including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; the Alliance for Retired Americans and the American Federation of Teachers.
In a statement, White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields slammed Hollander as a “radical leftist” and accused her of “abusing the system to try and sabotage” Trump’s agenda.
“The President will continue to seek all legal remedies available to ensure the will of the American people goes into effect,” Fields said.
“We will work to comply with the court order,” a Social Security spokesperson told CNBC via email. 

Judge: DOGE method ‘hitting a fly with a sledgehammer’

Hollander, noting the affiliates of DOGE have kept their identities hidden, wrote, “ironically, the identity of these DOGE affiliates has been concealed because defendants are concerned that the disclosure of even their names would expose them to harassment and thus invade their privacy.”
“The defense does not appear to share a privacy concern for the millions of Americans whose SSA records were made available to the DOGE affiliates, without their consent,” the judge wrote.
The judge also said that the administration has not “attempted to explain why a more tailored, measured, titrated approach is not suitable to the task.”
“Instead, the government simply repeats its incantation of a need to modernize the system and uncover fraud,” Hollander wrote. “Its method of doing so is tantamount to hitting a fly with a sledgehammer.”
The judge pointed to the public reaction to the disclosure of the Social Security numbers of more than 400 former congressional staffers and other individuals with the release of unredacted files associated with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. That supports the expectation of privacy with regard to that personal data, she wrote.

The plaintiffs are “likely” to succeed in their arguments that DOGE’s actions are arbitrary and violate the Privacy Act and Administrative Procedure Act, the judge said.
“We are grateful that the court took strong action to protect every American’s personal data,” Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, a national grassroots advocacy organization, said in an emailed statement. “Seniors must be able to trust the Social Security Administration will protect their personal information and keep it from falling into the wrong hands.”
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report. More

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.
Only Congress can unilaterally eliminate the Education Department.
But the Trump administration can starve the agency of resources.

The U.S. Department of Education is seen on March 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order to abolish the Department of Education. 
Win Mcnamee | Getty Images News | Getty Images

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.
The Education Department oversees the country’s $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio, provides funding to low-income students and enforces civil rights across the country.

Only Congress can unilaterally eliminate the Education Department. But the Trump administration can starve the agency of resources.
Earlier this month, the department laid off nearly half of its staffers. The actions leave the department with 2,183 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Thursday that she expected some key functions of the Education Department, including federal student loans, to continue to be run out of the minimized agency.
It was hard to overestimate the harm the order would inflict, consumer advocates said.
“Today’s decision does not serve the interests of students or families,” said Mitria Spotser, vice president and federal policy director at the Center for Responsible Lending, in a statement.

“It weakens public education, abandons civil rights enforcement and prioritizes corporate interests over the fundamental right to a quality education,” Spotser said.
Former President Jimmy Carter established the current day U.S. Department of Education in 1979. Since then, the department has faced other existential threats, with former President Ronald Reagan calling for its end and Trump, during his first term, attempting to merge it with the Labor Department. More

If you turned 73 in 2024, the deadline for your first required minimum distribution, or RMD, is April 1.
You could see a 25% penalty for skipping the RMD or not withdrawing enough, but it may be possible to reduce the fee.
Typically, it’s better to take your first RMD by Dec. 31 the year you turn 73 to avoid two required withdrawals in the same year, experts say.

David Madison | Stone | Getty Images

You could face a 25% penalty

Generally, you calculate RMDs for each account by dividing the prior Dec. 31 balance by a “life expectancy factor,” according to the IRS. Some companies calculate RMDs for you, but you’re ultimately responsible for withdrawing the correct amount.  
There’s a 25% penalty for skipping the RMD or not withdrawing enough, said certified financial planner Scott Bishop, partner and managing director of Presidio Wealth Partners, based in Houston.
But the IRS could reduce the fee to 10% if you correct the mistake, withdraw the proper amount within two years and file Form 5329. 

“If you miss [the RMD], own up to it,” Bishop said. “Make sure you’re timely with it.”  
In some cases, the IRS could waive the penalty entirely if you show the shortfall happened due to “reasonable error” and you’re taking “reasonable steps” to fix it, according to the agency.

Why you should take your first RMD sooner

While retirees have until April 1 the year after turning 73 for their first RMD, many advisors suggest withdrawing the funds by Dec. 31 of the previous year. 
“I almost always say take it the first year,” said George Gagliardi, a CFP and founder of Coromandel Wealth Management in Lexington, Massachusetts.
If you wait until April 1 for your first RMD, you still have to take the second one by Dec. 31 of the same year. Pre-tax withdrawals incur regular income taxes, so you’re “doubling up” for that year, Gagliardi said.

Boosting your adjusted gross income can trigger various tax consequences, including higher Medicare Part B and D premiums.
However, there are some scenarios where it makes sense to delay your first RMD until April 1, Gagliardi said.
For example, the year you turn age 73 could be higher-income due to capital gains or another event that wouldn’t repeat, he said.  More

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Thursday aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Thursday that she expected some key functions of the Education Department, including federal student loans, to remain at the minimized agency.
However, earlier this month Trump said student debt should be managed by another agency.

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. 
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, throwing into question the fate of the agency’s $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio.
Only Congress can eliminate the Education Department. But the Trump administration can starve the agency of resources. Earlier this month, the department laid off nearly half of its staffers. The actions leave the department with 2,183 employees, down from 4,133 when Trump took office in January.

What does this all mean for the more than 40 million Americans who hold federal student loans?
“[T]his would create chaos,” said Michele Shepard Zampini, senior director of college affordability at The Institute For College Access & Success, in an interview with CNBC earlier this year.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Thursday that she expected some key functions of the Education Department, including federal student loans, to remain at the minimized agency.
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However, Trump told reporters earlier this month that the loan accounts should be overseen by another department.

“I don’t think the Education [Department] should be handling the loans,” Trump said. “That’s not their business.”
Here’s what could be next for borrowers.

Other agenices floated by Trump for student loans

Trump said this month that his administration was looking to task the Treasury Department, Commerce Department or the Small Business Administration with federal student loan management.
Experts say the most logical agency would be the Treasury Department, since it already plays a role in collecting past-due debts from Americans through the Treasury Offset Program.
Meanwhile, “Neither Commerce nor SBA has any relevant experience,” higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz told CNBC this month.

Student loan forgiveness could be at risk

These changes at the Education Department could not come at a worse time for federal student loan borrowers, consumer advocates say.
Court rulings have nixed Biden administration attempts at widespread forgiveness and repayment plans with lower payments, leaving many borrowers confused and saddled with higher costs.

Without the Education Department operating at full capacity, borrowers may now find their applications for existing loan forgiveness programs stalled, Kantrowitz said. Federal student loan borrowers can be eligible for debt cancellation under income-driven repayment plans or if they become disabled, among other reasons.
Student loan servicers handle the paperwork for the relief, but it’s the Education Department that “has final approval of all student loan forgiveness,” Kantrowitz said.
One important thing to keep in mind: The terms and conditions of your federal student loans cannot change even if the agency overseeing them does, experts say. Borrowers’ rights were guaranteed when they signed the master promissory note when their loans were originated.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What worries do you have about your federal student loans with the Education Dept. at risk? If you’re willing to share your experience for an upcoming story, please email [email protected].

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