The previous head of the Social Security Administration says that planned budget cuts to the agency could cause the whole system to “collapse,” which would stop millions of Americans from getting their benefits.
Martin O’Malley, who used to be the commissioner of Social Security under Vice President Joe Biden, told CNBC, “In the end, the system will fall apart, and benefits will stop.” “I believe that will happen in thirty to ninety days.”
“Get people to save money now,” he told them.
O’Malley, a Democrat who was governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015, said that Elon Musk’s plans to cut funds and staffing at the Department of Government Efficiency have already caused chaos at the agency.
More than 72.5 million Americans depend on Social Security for their income. In fact, almost 90% of Americans over 65 depend on the program. In more than 80 years of use, the service has never missed a payment.
The Daily Beast asked the White House and SSA for comment on O’Malley’s comments, but neither replied right away.
As part of Musk’s DOGE plan to cut back on government, the SSA told its employees last week that it would be making “significant workforce reductions” as part of a “agency-wide organizational restructuring.” The Associated Press was told by an anonymous source inside the agency that the system could lay off up to half of its staff. However, SSA denied this claim in a statement on February 28 and said it had “set a staffing target of 50,000, down from the current level of approximately 57,000 employees.” The SSA has given agency workers until March 14 to take advantage of buyouts or be laid off.
DOGE also said it was going to let the leases on 45 SSA offices across the country run out, which would mean they would be closed.
O’Malley said there would be a huge political backlash if payments to workers who have paid into the system their whole lives were stopped.
“People are going to start giving members of Congress a lot of heat” because they have been letting Social Security lose its benefits and earned benefits stop, O’Malley said.
Many Americans like Social Security, which has made Republicans’ long-term attempts to change the system politically risky and given Democrats something to use against them.
Key Senate Democrats, such as Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, Patty Murray of Washington, and Ron Wyden of Oregon, held a news conference on Monday to say that the Trump administration and DOGE were trying to “destroy” the agency.
Schumer said, “It’s hard to believe that the Trump administration wants to cut Social Security, but that’s what they can do.”
He pointed out that the agency was planning to fire 7,000 people and that Musk had recently called the program a “Ponzi scheme.” “We’re in a pincer move that shows just what they’re up to,” he said.
The Democrats in the House have also warned people.
This week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “The Trump administration is putting Social Security benefits at risk by firing the staff who help beneficiaries and closing down the offices that serve communities across the country.”
Since Trump took office, the SSA has gone through other big changes. Michelle King, who was working as commissioner of the agency, quit in February after a disagreement about DOGE’s access to private user data. The new commissioner has been chosen by President Trump and is Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano. However, the Senate has not yet approved him. Trump has chosen Leland Dudek, a midlevel career employee at the SSA who was put on leave for working with DOGE, as acting commissioner for now.
