Maryland’s Democratic congressional leaders called for the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to keep its “hands off of Social Security” at a rally Monday outside the administration’s headquarters in Woodlawn.

The gathering came after reports that DOGE gained access to the nearby Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last week.

“They’ve been down the street,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who has been outspoken about the impacts of DOGE on other government agencies. “We’re afraid this is the next stop.”

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks and Reps. Kweisi Mfume, Johnny Olszewski Jr. and Sarah Elfreth also decried the growing power of the newly established DOGE. Chants of “boo” and “shame” echoed up through the crowd, which included Social Security beneficiaries, that had gathered outside the building on Security Boulevard.

President Donald Trump, through the establishment of DOGE and administrative actions, has roiled the federal workforce and organizations that receive federal funding as he vows to slash the size and spending of the U.S. government. Many of the moves are caught up in court battles.

The impact on Maryland could be devastating, economists warn. About 10% of the state’s workers are directly employed by the federal government.

The Baltimore region is home to two major federal agency headquarters. The Social Security Administration has been based in Woodlawn since 1960, and as of last March, it employed about 10,000 people in Maryland, according to federal data. CMS employed about 4,000 people in the state, the data shows.

“House Republicans have cut this agency to a 50-year low, and now the unelected co-president wants to cut Social Security even further,” former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said of Musk. O’Malley was the administration’s leader for a little less than a year under then-President Joe Biden before resigning in November.

DOGE staffers have been inside the Woodlawn headquarters of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services since Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. CMS, a unit of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, administers Medicaid and Medicare, health insurance programs for over 140 million lower-income, older and disabled Americans.

DOGE is tasked with cutting federal spending across departments — vowing to cut some $500 billion across the government. In the roughly three weeks since the start of the Trump administration, DOGE has entered at least 35 departments, according to the agency’s X account, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s HR department.

Musk has said he plans to target the U.S. Department of Education next.

“There’s no check and balance for Mr. Musk, who has billions of dollars in self-interest with contracts with this federal government and foreign governments,” Elfreth said. “[He] has his hands on our data and is systematically coming for civil servants across this country.”

Civil servants have also been hit with return-to-office mandates, buyout offers and threats of layoffs.

In Howard County, home to around 50,000 federal workers, County Executive Calvin Ball announced he would set up a hotline and email address to assist residents terminated from federal jobs.

Jason Anderson, a vice president for the American Federation of Government Employees, said the union plans to hold Trump to labor contract provisions that protect remote and telework.

In January, DOGE posted on the social media platform X, owned by Musk, it had saved more than $1 billion by canceling diversity, equity and inclusion contracts, including from the Social Security Administration.

Last week, DOGE “terminated an SSA contract for the ‘Gender X initiative marker’ and removed all references to gender ideology from public-facing applications,” saving more than $1 million, the agency posted.

“It’s a real break from how effective government actually works,” Olszewski said. “All we’re saying is, if you want to eliminate an agency or if you want to make cuts, use the legislative process.”