On December 18, 2023, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA). O’Malley was confirmed by a vote of 50-11, with 39 senators not voting. He was sworn in on December 20 providing SSA its first permanent commissioner in more than two years. His term expires on January 19, 2025.

The SSA administers retirement, disability, survivor, and family benefits, and enrolls individuals in Medicare. Its programs pay more than 1.4 trillion dollars annually to more than 66 million beneficiaries. Established in 1925, SSA is headquartered in Woodlawn, Maryland, outside of Baltimore. The Commissioner oversees a staff of nearly 61,000 employees and 1,500 facilities.

“I am honored for the opportunity of a lifetime to lead Social Security’s outstanding public servants forward, together, in such an important mission to help the agency to deliver critical services to the American people,” said Commissioner O’Malley. “Social Security is the most far-reaching and important act of social and economic justice that the people of the United States have ever enacted. For tens of millions of Americans across our country, Social Security is the difference between living with dignity or living in poverty.”