Donald Trump and Elon Musk Are Making Their Social Security Lies a Reality — By Punishing Maine Families

The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, Executive Director of Social Security Works:

“For decades, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has had contracts with every state that allow parents to register their newborns for a Social Security card at the hospital. They also have contracts to find out from the states who has died so that SSA can cancel the benefits of the deceased.

A week ago, the Trump Administration canceled both contracts with only one state — Maine. After the media broke the story, SSA issued a press release acknowledging that the cancellations were intentional, not accidental, and abruptly reversing course. But the damage has been done.

Without those contracts, SSA did not automatically know who was born in Maine — or who died. Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing their best to make their fantasy of dead people getting Social Security benefits a reality.

This will create huge headaches for families, as well as Social Security’s rapidly shrinking workforce, to fix. Families with loved ones who died may receive overpayments that will have to be paid back. And exhausted new parents will drag their newborn babies to an already overburdened Social Security office in the middle of a measles outbreak.

Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek is taking responsibility for the policy change, but Dudek has admittedthat he takes orders from Elon Musk and his young minions.

Cancelling those contracts created waste, abuse, and at least the potential for fraud. There is no policy reason for cancelling them, and many policy reasons against it. The only explanation is political revenge against Maine Governor Janet Mills, who has recently defied the Trump Administration.”