Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey on Tuesday rallied in support of the Social Security office in the city’s East Liberty neighborhood that had been included on a list of federal buildings President Donald Trump’s administration proposed to sell.
That list — which included the East Liberty and Greensburg Social Security Administration buildings and the multi-agency William S. Moorhead Federal Building in Downtown Pittsburgh — has since been taken down from the General Services Administration website.
“All they want to do is hurt and burn social services that help people make it through life,” Gainey said of the Trump administration as he stood outside the Social Security office on Station Street.
That’s particularly concerning for Al Hart, 75, of Stanton Heights. He’s retired and relies on Social Security, he told TribLive.
“This is a lethal attack on the working class of the United States,” he said. “I’m going to continue to fight it.”
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey arrives and speaks in front of the expected-to-be closed Social Security office in East Liberty @TribLIVEpic.twitter.com/1g0NPLZdcs
— Shane Dunlap (@shanedunlap) April 1, 2025
When asked about the possibility of closing the office, a regional Social Security Administration spokesperson provided a statement denying plans of closures.
“Recent reports in the media that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is permanently closing local field offices are false,” the statement said, adding the administration had not permanently closed any local field offices since the start of the year.
The administration works with congressional delegations before closing offices, the statement continued.
Any closures would not affect Social Security payments but would have an impact on where recipients could receive services.
“SSA is committed to providing service where people need help, and our local field offices are no exception,” Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, said in the statement.
Last month, The Associated Press reported the Trump administration published — then deleted — a list of more than 440 federal properties it might want to sell.
The Social Security Administration could cut up to half of its workforce, the AP reported, as Trump and his ally Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency, look to slash the number of federal workers and buildings.
“I believe people have a right to Social Security,” Mel Packer, of Point Breeze, said at Tuesday’s rally. “This is not a benefit. It’s a right. It’s our money.”
Gainey urged people to come together to stand up to Trump and his allies.
“They’re taking access away from people who need it,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, meanwhile lambasted Trump in response to layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health facility in Pleasant Hills.
“The research done at NIOSH doesn’t just live in a lab — it’s what ensures that the nurse caring for patients, the steelworker on the line, or the factory worker exposed to fine particulates can breathe safely and go home to their families,” Lee said in a statement. “That is worth fighting for. That is worth funding.”
Gainey and Lee also have pushed back on any idea of closing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Pittsburgh field office or cutting Medicaid.
Gainey last week signed executive orders fighting against housing discrimination as the federal government rolled back such protections. The mayor also has vowed Pittsburgh won’t cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.