For Social Security’s 90th Birthday, Don’t Celebrate–Organize!

This August 14 marks the 90th anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt signing the Social Security Act into law. This was a huge step forward for America, and our country has been profoundly changed for the better. We quite understandably focus on Social Security’s retirement benefits, but Social Security is much more than this. It is a social insurance policy that helps children whose parents have died and those who are disabled and provides spousal income.

It is very easy to be tempted into celebrating Social Security’s longevity and enjoying a piece of birthday cake. Given the threats to Social Security, as well as other programs like Medicaid, such celebrations are misleading. The best way to mark Social Security’s 90th birthday is to adapt a phrase made famous by the legendary labor organizer Joe Hill: “Don’t celebrate—organize!”

Given the threats to Social Security by the Trump administration in just seven months in office, celebrations are not helpful. Let’s briefly review some of the recent Trump actions that impact your benefits:

• Weakening confidence in Social Security by alleging widespread fraud. Back in April, Elon Musk, then the self-styled first buddy and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was leveling charges of massive fraud in Social Security. As The New York Times reported, “Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has continued his campaign to aggressively undercut Social Security, leveling baseless and often misleading attacks on the insurance program.”
• President Donald Trump has said consistently since 2016 that he would not touch Social Security. I have no doubt that some will dismiss all that we are saying by pointing to Trump’s repeated promises to protect. Rather than focusing on how much a promise from Trump is worth, I would point to the fact that Scott Bessent, Trump’s Treasury secretary who was discussing the Trump Accounts created by the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) described them as, “a backdoor for privatizing Social Security. Social Security is a defined benefit plan paid out. To the extent that if, all of a sudden, these accounts grow and you have in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for your retirement, then that’s a game changer, too.”
• In March, Axios reported that “Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested this week that only ‘fraudsters’ would complain about missing a monthly Social Security check, and that most people wouldn’t mind if the government simply skipped a payment.”
• All sides agree that Social Security faces some very significant long-term funding challenges. Rather than helping to solve Social Security’s challenges or even have no impact on them, the OBBB weakens Social Security’s finances. As The Hill recently reported: “President Trump’s tax and spending megabill could speed up insolvency for Social Security’s trust funds, according to an analysis from the Trump administration’s chief actuary for the program. The Office of the Chief Actuary (OACT) at the Social Security Administration (SSA) released an analysis this week of the law’s potential effects on the program’s finances in response to a request from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.”
• Last, but certainly not least, the Trump administration has made large cuts to Social Security staffing that impact its ability to help Americans access their earned benefits. As the Center for Budget and Policy pointed out in June: “Over the past five months, the Trump administration has forced the Social Security Administration (SSA) through a radical transformation that threatens to disrupt services for the largely older and severely disabled people who most rely on the agency. The Trump Administration and its so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have created huge gaps in customer service and support by indiscriminately pushing out 7,000 workers to hit an arbitrary staffing reduction target. This is the largest staffing cut in SSA’s history.”

Given all of this, if you really care about Social Security, it is impossible to blithely celebrate its birthday.

So instead of having a piece of birthday cake, make a call to your member of Congress, post on social media about how we need to protect Social Security, and talk to your friends about the need to speak up against threats to your benefits. In other words, don’t celebrate–organize!