Editor’s Note: At the end of this article, you can take action to maintain your financial situation and advocate for social security.
Since its inception 85 years ago, the Social Security Agency (SSA) has never missed payments to beneficiaries. However, the Ministry of Government Efficiency (DOGE) puts axe work on the agency for hazard records.
President Joe Biden’s Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley Predicting that the system will break down, resulting in payment interruptions.
“Everything they did drove the institution to collapse,” O’Malley told CNN. “This will lead to service interruptions, which will eventually become a cascading into more frequent claims handling system interrupts that will eventually lead to system crashes and ultimately lead to interruptions of earnings.”
Two-party alarm
Not only O’Malley. Former senior SSA officials from both sides are sending alarms that the agency is under threat.
Jason Fichtner serves as Deputy Director of Social Security, Chief Economist and Deputy Commissioner for Retirement Policy. Kathleen Romig is a former senior consultant to the Office of the Social Security Commissioner. The two merged into Mountain Express their concerns.
“The Social Security Agency is in crisis and people’s welfare is at risk,” Fichtner and Romig wrote.
“We won’t say that easily. We both hold senior positions at the Social Security Bureau, one under the leadership of the Democratic president and the other under the Republicans.”
More than 73 million recipients, 51 million retirees, have earned more than $1.5 trillion in social security. These payments represent 21% of the federal budget for 2024.
Fraud
Say your attitude towards Elon Musk and his Dodge disciples, who won’t let the lack of knowledge and richness stop their actions. For example, there is no indication that they understand how Social Security and its COBOL-based infrastructure work.
This has not stopped Musk and his followers from claiming fraud is rampant in SSA. However, unless you use the wrong number, the numbers don’t add up.
Trump and Musk have repeatedly claimed that millions of dead are undergoing social security checks. For example, Musk A SSA table was published In February, the agency’s database showed more than 20 million people over 1,000 years of age. These include 1,476,906 years, ages 150 to 369.
Oh, wait, this is the fraud he is talking about. The only problem is that these numbers do not show fraud. Those numbers in SSA Digital Database It is a record of every Social Security number that has been published, not every Social Security beneficiary of the SSA being paid. The actual beneficiary’s number Listed separately.
Bring out your death (empty their pockets)
In addition, Trump’s disguised Musk’s claim also has some problems.
First of all, there is such a fact automatically Stop paying 115-year-olds. In addition, there are currently data that refute Trump/Musk’s claims.
The SSA Inspector General raised the issue of more than 100 people in a 2023 report to milk the government for benefits. This check confirms “At present, there are almost no 18.9 million holders receiving SSA payments. “That’s why the SSA thought at the time that clearing these records was a waste of time and money.
Cut service delays
Social security is mainly a service agency. Initially, the employee reviews the application and determines the eligibility of the benefits. However, SSA staff also prepare, verify and maintain records, investigate and resolve possible problems. However, perhaps the most important function of SSA employee performance is to provide information and answer questions to beneficiaries and new applicants.
If Musk and Trump prevail, beneficiaries will find it difficult to achieve help.
Musk/Trump wants to cut 7,000 out of SSA’s 57,000 employees.
Onsite offices are not closed – maybe just shrink or disappear
Acting Social Security Specialist, according to a report on the closure of the Social Security Site Office Lee Dudek makes a statement “We haven’t closed any local offices permanently this year,” he said.
However, Dudek has not vowed to keep all SSA offices open. In fact, Termination of lease of 22 SSA facilities Listed on the Doge website’s “Receipt Wall”. It is not clear what these facilities are.
Confusing, right? That is understandable. Dudek used to build e-water bodies.
Threat of shutting down social security
Just a week ago, Dudek, who is consistent with Doge, said he would have to close the SSA when a federal judge bans Doge from accessing personal information from social security recipients.
“At least, that means closing my vast army, CIO and general counsel. I don’t know how to run an agency to do so. I guess I have no choice but to terminate access to everyone,” Mr Dudek said on the morning of March 21.
On the same day, Judge Ellen Hollander released theLetter to lawyer“Acting Commissioner Dudek insists on the threat of closing the Social Security Agency’s operations, claiming that the TRO (temporary restriction order) issued by me on March 20, 2025 applies to almost all SSA employees. “She called Dudek’s claim “apparently incorrect.”
Dudek then sent backwards, publishing a statement in part reading: “Today, the court issued a temporary restraining order regarding the temporary restraining order (SSA) related to the Doge Employees and the Social Security Agency (SSA). Therefore, I did not close the agency.”
Making access more difficult
It doesn’t require rocket scientists, let alone Rockets owners, who realize that fewer employees serving beneficiaries can lead to service rupture. So, this is already happening.
Trump signed a Last week’s executive order will end SSA’s paper check issuance By September 30, 456,000 Americans are currently receiving SSA benefits through paper checks. However, the order says they will have to set up a direct deposit or “other digital payment method.”
SSA provides instructions on how to switch direct deposits, including recipient phone number to ask for help. But if you go that route, you might want to pack your lunch. The wait is long, and it may get longer and longer as Musk/Trump wants to lay off employees.
According to the Washington Post, on-site office staff were unable to keep up with the phone Force the manager to call. And if the manager doesn’t handle the call very much, no one will know. That’s because Doge eliminates the agency’s call monitoring department.
Social Security Telephone Data
Look SSA call data Tracked before March 31, the agency indicated a call from the table, with beneficiaries waiting for hours to get answers, many of whom apparently gave up.
According to the agency’s records, an average of 267,236 people call SSA every day. In fact, only 46.2% talked to the delegates. For many people, waiting for a phone to answer on average 28 minutes is too much. Those who endured the average waiting put aside 21.3 minutes, waiting for the agent to take over.
Last year, about 30,000 Americans died In order to make social security benefits decisions. For those applying for retirement benefits, the wait is usually short. However, such a decision can take months or even years to apply for disability benefits.
Some members of Congress, such as Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), have begun to mention staff layoffs and reduce services to “Benefit cuts. ”
Technical issues
Among these SSA staff, those who were cut or offered a buyout were experienced technicians in the agency’s COBOL computer programming language. Most computer engineers today are not familiar with this programming language developed in the late 1950s.
Exiting a proficient employee in COBOL can have dire consequences for future benefits payments.
“If there is a power outage in a social security computer system, then It happened twice In recent years, the agency may lack the expertise to address it. Fichtner and Romig wrote.
But, at the core, the threat to SSA is not only technical.
Jack Smalligan, who works in the Office of Management and Budget, focuses on social security, agrees.
“We have a group of people who have no or very little experience in the operation of the agency, trying to run one of the most important welfare programs in our country,” Smalligan said. “The tailor is doing this in this unstructured, look-out unplanned way, putting the agency at a special risk.”
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What can you do
There are some steps you can take to get rid of the financial impact of SSA benefits disruptions.
- Start or add to your contingency fund. Your goal should be enough to cover three to six months of living expenses.
- Review your budget to eliminate unnecessary expenses until your contingency fund is full.
- Consider a part-time job or freelancing job.
- Transfer savings to income-generating investments, such as dividend stocks and bonds.
Tell Congress how you feel
Another action you can take to protect your welfare is to contact Congress.
The American Association of Retirees (AARP) created You can send forms via email to express your concerns about social security.
Read more:
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- Social security restoration requires political courage
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