Tag Archives: Social Security

ABC News reports: The newly sworn-in head of the Social Security Administration told agency staff this week that when he was first offered the job in the Trump administration, he wasn’t familiar with the position and had to look it up online. Frank Bisignano, a former Wall Street executive, said during a town hall with Social Security managers from around …

The Guardian reports: Social Security, the sacred cow of the US welfare system dating back to Franklin Roosevelt’s 1930s New Deal, faces significant threat as it reels under the stress of Elon Musk’s aggressive incursions, its former head has said. Martin O’Malley, former commissioner of the social security administration (SSA) under Joe Biden, said such a breakdown could result in …

The Washington Post reports: Immigrants falsely labeled dead by the Social Security Administration are showing up at field offices with documents proving they are alive, leading staff to reinstate nearly three dozen people over the past week, according to records obtained by The Washington Post. Some immigrants have shown up with driver’s licenses and work permits to prove their legitimacy, …

Axios reports: President Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday attempting to curtail Social Security fraud, despite ample evidence against widespread improper payments. The move bolsters Elon Musk’s DOGE-related efforts to eliminate Social Security fraud, about which he has continually exaggerated and promoted conspiracy theories. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that the memorandum aims to restrict undocumented …

The Washington Post reports: Greg Pearre, who oversaw a staff of hundreds of technology experts, had pushed back on the Trump administration’s plan to move the migrants’ names into a Social Security death database, eliminating their ability to legally earn wages and, officials hoped, spurring them to leave the country. In particular, Pearre had clashed with Scott Coulter, the new …

Wired reports: The Social Security Administration will no longer be communicating with the media and the public through press releases and “dear colleague” letters, as it shifts its public communication exclusively to X, sources tell WIRED. The news comes amid major staffing cuts at the agency. “We are no longer planning to issue press releases or those dear colleague letters …

The Washington Post reports: Retirees and disabled people are facing chronic website outages and other access problems as they attempt to log in to their online Social Security accounts, even as they are being directed to do more of their business with the agency online. The website has crashed repeatedly in recent weeks, with outages lasting anywhere from 20 minutes …

The Guardian reports: Office closures, staffing and service cuts, and policy changes at the Social Security Administration (SSA) have caused “complete, utter chaos” and are threatening to send the agency into a “death spiral”, according to workers at the agency. The SSA operates the largest government program in the US, administering social insurance programs, including retirement, disability and survivor benefits. …

Wired reports: The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is starting to put together a team to migrate the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) computer systems entirely off one of its oldest programming languages in a matter of months, potentially putting the integrity of the system—and the benefits on which tens of millions of Americans rely—at risk. The project is being …

The Associated Press reports: The Social Security Administration is partially backtracking on a plan that would require all new and existing beneficiaries to travel to a Social Security field office to verify their identity. The Social Security Administration on Wednesday said that people applying for Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare, or Supplemental Security Income who are not able to use …

The Washington Post reports: Acting Social Security commissioner Leland Dudek threatened Thursday evening to bar Social Security Administration employees from accessing its computer systems in response to a judge’s order blocking the U.S. DOGE Service from accessing sensitive taxpayer data. Dudek initially told news outlets, including in a Friday interview with The Washington Post, that the judge’s decision to bar …

“For younger people, bring in a new system, where part or whole of their payroll tax goes to their own personal retirement accounts. And that way, numerous studies have shown whether you just leave it in CDs, you’d have two to three times the retirement benefits that you get under the current system, and you would own it, not the …

The Associated Press reports: Dozens of Social Security Administration offices across the country are slated to close this year due to actions taken by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency as part of the Trump administration’s unprecedented effort to shrink the size of government. DOGE has published a list of nearly 800 federal real estate leases that it is seeking …

The Washington Post reports: The Social Security Administration is considering adding a new anti-fraud step to claims for benefits that the agency acknowledges would force millions of customers to file in person at a field office rather than over the phone, according to an internal memorandum. The change would create major disruptions to Social Security operations, the memo said, and …

The New York Times reports: A private equity investor who is one of Elon Musk’s closest confidants has taken a new role in the Social Security Administration, a development that could be politically combustible given the program’s popularity with voters and Mr. Musk’s apparent intent to make major changes at the agency. The investor, Antonio Gracias, who has served on …

The Washington Post reports: Under pressure from the U.S. DOGE Service team to root out alleged fraud, the Social Security Administration is considering dramatically curtailing the phone services that 73 million retired and disabled Americans rely on to apply for and access their earned government benefits. Social Security leadership is now considering a proposal to end telephone service for claims …

The Associated Press reports: Elon Musk pushed debunked theories about Social Security on Monday while describing federal benefit programs as rife with fraud, suggesting they will be a primary target in his crusade to reduce government spending. The billionaire entrepreneur, who is advising President Donald Trump, suggested that $500 billion to $700 billion in waste needed to be cut. “Most …

The Washington Post reports: They came in aggressively, a former official who witnessed Elon Musk’s team take over the Social Security Administration said, demanding access to sensitive taxpayer data and refusing briefings on how the agency ensures the accuracy of its benefit systems. They recklessly exposed data in unsecured areas outside Social Security offices, the official said, potentially disclosing personally …

“President Trump got into a litany of talk about waste and fraud in Social Security. Now at this point, I’ll point out it was it was very funny. I do want to point out that we are not actually paying 360 year-olds their Social Security benefits. “That’s not actually what’s going on. Basically, we have an incredibly stupid system for …

CNBC reports: Social Security has never missed a benefit payment since the program first began sending individuals monthly benefits more than eight decades ago. But the recent actionsby Elon Musk’s so-called DOGE are putting monthly benefit checks for more than 72.5 million Americans at risk, former commissioner and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley told CNBC.com. “Ultimately, you’re going to see …