Fears have been made about how Elon Musk’s unofficial role as President Trump’s watchdog over the federal government might affect the Social Security Administration (SSA). More than once, Trump has said that Social Security “won’t be touched.” However, recent events show that this isn’t going to happen.
Along with Trump’s order to cut the government budget and workforce, the SSA said on February 28 that it would be letting go of about 7,000 jobs. Reports from ProPublica said that this came after the SSA said it would cut 41 jobs and close at least 10 offices.
It’s not clear how much Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) affected the cuts to the SSA. When the CEO of Tesla and richest person in the world goes after every part of the U.S. government, it’s clear that alarm bells have gone off.
Former Commissioner of Social Security Martin O’Malley told the Baltimore Sun that these “doge boys” will likely break Social Security first because it is “likely the first program that Americans love.” “And they’re almost done because they’re firing people from the agency.”
Data That Was Hacked
Musk and his DOGE team have been given access to tens of millions of Social Security records that contain very private personal information. This is one of the most concerning things about his interest in government programs and benefits. Some people worry that the information will get into the wrong hands, which could lead to a lot of scams aimed at people who get Social Security.
“SSA has information on everyone with a Social Security number, which is almost all Americans,” said Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works. “This includes everyone with Medicare and every low-income American who has applied for Supplemental Security Income, Social Security’s means-tested companion program.”
“Older people are more likely to fall for scams than younger people.” If SSA data got out, the number of scams would go through the roof.
Office Closed
Musk has made it a top goal to shut down government offices and clear out buildings, and the SSA is already doing that. The agency said in a news release on February 28 that its regional structure of 10 offices is “no longer sustainable” and that it wants to “reduce the regional structure in all agency components down to four regions.”
ProPublica says that the SSA has more than 1,200 field and regional offices that help 119,000 people who get Social Security every work day. Many people will probably find it harder to get services and have their questions answered when places close.
Layoffs of staff
This is already happening at the SSA, just like closing offices. According to Rich Couture, a spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)’s SSA General Committee, a union that represents about 42,000 Social Security workers, it couldn’t have happened at a worse time.
In a statement given to NPR, Couture said, “SSA is taking care of more Americans than ever while having the fewest employees it has had in 50 years.” “We need to keep both the frontline workers who help the public directly and the workers who help them in very important ways.” Any cuts will hurt people in the long run and make it harder for people to get their Social Security payments.
More time spent waiting
A big problem at the SSA is already the long wait times people have to go through to get assistance and have their questions answered. Experts say it will probably get worse if the government cuts a lot of staff and field offices.
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told NPR that this is especially true of disability payments, which are “enormous and hard to figure out.” “Every year, about 10,000 people who filed an appeal for benefits die while they wait for their case to be heard.”
