May, 02 2025, 04:18pm EDT
Donald Trump’s Budget Breaks His Promise to Protect Social Security
The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, on the Trump administration’s FY 2026 budget blueprint:
“Donald Trump ran for President on a promise to protect Social Security. This budget breaks that promise.
It keeps funding for the Social Security Administration (SSA) flat, which is a de-facto cut since SSA’s fixed costs, such as field office rents, go up every year by over $600 million.
Furthermore, it forces SSA to spend more money on so-called “program integrity” — clawing back money from Americans who have been overpaid through no fault of their own — which creates extreme hardship, including homelessness.
The truth is that Social Security is extremely understaffed, which is increasing backlogs and wait times. This budget will make those backlogs and delays worse. It will make mistakes — including the Orwellian nightmare of being inadvertently declared dead when you are not — harder to fix.
This budget’s cuts to Social Security are right in line with Elon Musk’s DOGE, which has pushed out over 7,000 SSA workers, including some of the most experienced and highly trained. Many Social Security field offices have lost half their staff, even as DOGE is forcing millions more people a year to visit those offices. What good are earned benefits that Americans can’t access?
Despite these massive cuts, as well as cuts to other essential programs like Meals on Wheels, the Trump administration continues to lie that it is protecting seniors and Social Security. No one should believe them.”
Social Security Works' mission is to: Protect and improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations; Safeguard the economic security of those dependent, now or in the future, on Social Security; and Maintain Social Security as a vehicle of social justice.
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Defenders of climate and the rule of law blasted the Trump administration on Friday for using what one consumer campaigner called a "phony" emergency to wage lawfare agaist states trying to hold Big Oil financially accountable for the planetary crisis.
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Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division said in a statement Thursday, "When states seek to regulate energy beyond their constitutional or statutory authority, they harm the country's ability to produce energy and they aid our adversaries."
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Those who collect Social Security benefits will no longer be able to update their direct deposit banking information solely by phone. Instead of verifying their identity via security questions over the phone, the agency will require those who rely on Social Security to use a multifactor authentication process that includes a one-time PIN code or to visit a social security office in person.
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"They are forcing millions of Americans into Social Security offices at the same time they are cutting a huge percentage of the workforce," Lawson added. "The Trump-Musk regime has one goal: Wreak Social Security so they can rob it. When people can't get their benefits for any reason, that is a benefit cut."
Trump, with the help of his billionaire advisor Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, have endeavored to slash government spending and personnel. A tracker from The New York Times estimates that there has been a 5% staff reduction at SSA, but total planned reductions at the agency could ultimately cut staff by 17%.
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