SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
social security works
DOGE Stole Private Social Security Data. Congress Must Investigate Now.
Jan 21, 2026
The following is a statement from Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works:
“Nearly a year ago, Elon Musk’s DOGE forced out Social Security’s acting commissioner after she refused to hand over the American people’s private Social Security data.
Unions and advocates quickly filed a lawsuit to bar DOGE from accessing the data, but the Supreme Court issued a preliminary injunction restoring DOGE’s access. Now, we are beginning to learn what DOGE is doing with it.
New court filings related to the lawsuit reveal that DOGE operatives entered an agreement with an advocacy group to share private Social Security data — with the goal of overturning election results in several states. The filings do not reveal the identity of either the DOGE operatives or the advocacy group.
Thanks to Donald Trump and the Supreme Court, Elon Musk’s DOGE minions have access to our private Social Security data. So does anyone they choose to share it with — and anyone who can hack the unsecured server they’ve stored it on.
This week’s revelations are just the tip of the iceberg. We need to know exactly who has our data and what they are doing with it. And those who have committed illegal acts must be prosecuted.
Republicans in Congress love to claim that they support Social Security. Now is their chance to prove it, by launching a long-overdue investigation into just what DOGE is doing with our earned benefits and our private data.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Social Security Needs Full Staffing — Not a Scheme Destined to Fail
Jan 09, 2026
The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, in response to the Social Security Administration’s reported plans for a nationwide system:
“Before Donald Trump was elected in 2024, the number of Social Security beneficiaries was at an all-time high, while staffing to administer our earned Social Security benefits was at a fifty-year low. So how did the Trump administration respond? It forced out thousands of the Social Security Administration’s most experienced employees.
Scrambling to address this self-inflicted wound, the administration has announced plans to cut field offices in half and is rushing out a new way of dealing with workload that is designed to fail. If implemented, it will have catastrophic consequences for Social Security beneficiaries, and the public more generally.
Essentially, it would mean that someone who needs help with their Social Security could get directed to a SSA staffer across the country, instead of at their local field office. For example, someone in Richmond, Virginia seeking to claim survivor benefits after the loss of a loved one might be helped by someone in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Once the claim is initiated, if there is suspicion that you may not be who you say you are, and you are asked to come into an office and prove your identity, must you fly to New Orleans? Must someone who has not worked on your case take it over? Must you start the application process all over again?
This plan is massively inefficient and will create numerous problems, including:
- Social Security often interacts with state laws. For example, eligibility for Social Security spousal benefits can depend on how a state treats common law marriages. The same with the need to understand worker compensation laws, which differ in every state.
Already overworked SSA staffers can’t realistically become experts in the laws of all 50 states. Is the plan to rely on artificial intelligence rather than a trained civil servant who has been processing claims in their community for decades? - The law requires the public to provide original documents for certain claims, not just uploaded or xeroxed copies. To change this would require an act of Congress. Moreover, the documents, like green cards or driver’s licenses, are not ones that people can easily mail and be without for even a day. How will that work if the staffer handling the case is across the country?
- If people have difficulties resolving Social Security issues, they may contact their member of Congress for help. Constituent services staffers are trained to deal with the local SSA office, and would have a far harder time helping resolve cases that are being handled across the country.
A nationwide system might have superficial appeal and sound efficient to someone who has to google what Social Security is. The reality is that field offices have been the backbone of our successful Social Security system for almost a century. They are part of our communities.
The reason for this poorly thought-through idea seems to be the self-inflicted problem of an understaffed agency. There’s a much better solution: Reverse last year’s cuts and fully staff our Social Security field offices.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump’s Social Security Commissioner Should Resign Immediately
Oct 30, 2025
The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works:
“This week, Fiserv’s stock price plunged by over 40 percent. The current CEO said that the decline happened because of exaggerated projections made by the previous CEO, Frank Bisignano.
That’s the same Frank Bisignano that Donald Trump put in charge of both Social Security and the IRS. Bisignano is now facing a lawsuit from investors, including a police pension fund that lost $1.67 million. He is being sued for ‘artificially inflating [Fiserv’s] growth numbers.’
When Bisignano joined the Trump administration, he sold all of his Fiserv stock, getting a big tax break in the process. That sale saved him $300 million (and counting) in stock value. Did Bisignano know that Fiserv’s stock was about to tank, and ask his friend Donald Trump for a life raft?
Bisignano is in charge of the American people’s hard-earned Social Security benefits, as well as the collection of our taxes — despite his total lack of expertise, or even basic knowledge, of either. He infamously admitted that he had to google ‘Social Security’ when Trump offered him the job. If he engaged in wrongdoing, the people need to know.
How can we trust any claims Bisignano makes about Social Security, such as his insistence that phone service is improving even as media reports show otherwise?
The Justice Department should launch an immediate investigation. So should Congress. Unfortunately, neither body has shown any willingness to hold Donald Trump or his nominees accountable. Bisignano should resign or be fired. Unfortunately, that won’t happen either.
The only recourse is for Democrats to win control of Congress and make investigating Bisignano a top priority.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump’s Latest Insult to Social Security: A Part-Time Commissioner
Oct 06, 2025
The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, on this morning’s announcement that Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano will also serve as CEO of the IRS:
“Frank Bisignano is so underqualified for the job of Social Security commissioner that his first move was to google ‘Social Security’. Bisignano’s decision to take on a second job running the IRS highlights that he has learned nothing. It also puts the lie to Donald Trump’s claim that he won’t hurt Social Security.
The Trump administration has already plunged Social Security into crisis by pushing out thousands of the most experienced, knowledgeable workers. They are causing chaos and real harm, including ending paper checks for Americans who have previously shown they need them. Now, Bisignano’s divided attention will create a bottleneck that makes the inevitable problems that arise even harder to correct.
Never in Social Security’s 90-year history has a commissioner held a second job. Bisiginano’s new role will leave a leadership vacuum at the top of the agency, especially since Trump hasn’t even nominated a deputy commissioner.
It always takes less time and effort to destroy something than to build and maintain it. By denying the system a full time commissioner, the Trump administration is allowing Social Security to rot through sabotage and neglect.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular