The Social Security crisis, briefly explained

The Social Security Administration — which distributes benefits to tens of millions of retired workers, people with disabilities, and their families — is in crisis.

Since billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) set its sights on finding fraud in Social Security, the agency has been trying to shed 12 percent of its workforce, or 7,000 workers. Leland Dudek, who took over as acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration in February, has pushed out officials and prompted others to resign in protest of his leadership. He has canceled research contracts with universities, including one that studied demographic trends, and closed six regional offices.

Plus, the agency recently announced that it will soon no longer allow claimants to verify their identity on the phone, instead requiring them to go online or to field offices in person, a move that would likely delay people’s benefits from being delivered.

As a result, field offices have gotten so understaffed that managers have doubled up as receptionists, answering calls at the front desk because there aren’t enough people to handle the phones, according to the report in the Washington Post. Phone lines have been jammed, with beneficiaries waiting as long as four or five hours to connect with a customer service representative. Congressional offices and the AARP have noted a spike in calls from constituents concerned about their Social Security benefits. The Social Security Administration’s website has also crashed several times.

This is all happening because of Trump officials’ insistence that Social Security is mired in fraud. Trump and Musk have both falsely claimed that a large number of people who have been dead for decades are still receiving social security benefits. Despite those claims, experts say that the Trump administration is vastly overstating the problem. A federal judge who stopped Musk’s team from gaining access to sensitive personal data said that DOGE “has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.”

The current mess was largely anticipated. Martin O’Malley, the former Democratic governor of Maryland who served as Social Security commissioner during the Biden administration, has warned that DOGE’s actions threaten to collapse the system and interrupt benefits.

Trump has claimed that he will not cut Social Security. But his administration’s assault on Social Security (all under the guise of going after fraud, waste, and abuse) has critics worried that he’s putting Social Security onto a path toward privatization.

Trump administration officials have also acknowledged a potential disruption in Social Security payments. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, for example — a billionaire and former Wall Street executive — claimed that people wouldn’t complain if they don’t receive their Social Security payments, saying that only those committing fraud would try to raise concerns. “Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain,” he said in a podcast interview. “She just wouldn’t. She’d think something got messed up, and she’ll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling, and complaining.”

The reality, however, is that millions of people rely on Social Security to make ends meet. The program lifts more than 20 million people out of poverty each year — more than any other federal program. So if the Trump administration doesn’t quickly pull Social Security out of this crisis, a whole lot of people will complain. And Lutnick will soon find out that his prediction is likely to be very, very wrong.