The Los Angeles Times recently reported that President Donald Trump approached William Hoagland, who spent decades as a Republican Senate budget aide, to be the new permanent Social Security commissioner, but Hoagland declined the offer.
“I will not work for this Administration,” Hoagland was quoted in the story.
It appears that Hoagland not only turned down that offer, but would not accept any offer to work in the Trump Administration.
The story is not just about Hoagland and Social Security, but more about how the Trump Administration is having a difficult time filling open positions at a number of government agencies including the Defense Department and Department of Treasury.
Since taking the oath of office Trump has been determined to appoint nominees to head government agencies who seem to be at odds with the traditional nature of what those agencies stand for. As an example, Scott Pruitt, who is Trump’s director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), seems to have little interest in protecting the environment.
Hoagland has voiced interest in making cuts to Social Security, but he decided to steer clear of becoming the new director and has even voiced his amazement at how Trump’s decisions and proposals seem to hurt the very people who elected him to office.
“I think we do need healthcare reform. I think we do need welfare reform. But the reductions that [Trump’s] talking about go exactly against the states that brought [Trump] to the dance, so to speak,” Hoagland said in a recent story in Politico.
In a roundabout way it appears that Hoagland is trying to inform Trump that the president’s budget proposal is a case of biting the hand that fees you.
It is probably a good thing that Hoagland decided not take over the top job at Social Security because he had proposed cutting benefits, but even he is aware that many of the people who helped give Trump a presidential victory want nothing to do with cutting Social Security benefits.
