The Hidden Equation: Fewer Social Security Staff, Lower Benefits?

Editor’s Note: At the end of this article are actions you can take to safeguard your finances and advocate for Social Security.

Since its inception 85 years ago, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has never missed a payment to beneficiaries. However, the hatchet job the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has taken on the agency puts that record in jeopardy.

Martin O’Malley, Social Security commissioner under President Joe Biden, has predicted that the system will break down, resulting in payment interruptions.

“Everything they’re doing is driving this agency to system collapse,” O’Malley told CNN. “It will lead to interruptions in service, and that will ultimately cascade into more frequent system interruptions for the processing of claims, ultimately leading to system collapse and eventually the interruption of benefits.”

Bipartisan Alarm

It’s not just O’Malley. Former high-ranking SSA officers from both parties are sounding the alarm that the agency is under threat.

Jason Fichtner served as Acting Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, as well as Chief Economist, and Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy. Kathleen Romig is a former senior advisor in the office of the commissioner of Social Security. The pair combined to write an opinion piece for The Hill expressing their concerns.

“The Social Security Administration is in crisis, and people’s benefits are at risk,” wrote Fichtner and Romig,

“We do not say this lightly. We both served in senior roles at the Social Security Administration — one of us under a Democratic president and the other under a Republican.”

Over 73 million recipients, 51 million retirees, receive over $1.5 trillion in benefits from Social Security. Those payments represent 21% of the federal budget in 2024.

The Fraud Fraud

Say what you will about Elon Musk and his Dodge disciples, they will not let a lack of knowledge and an abundance of recklessness stop their actions. For instance, there is no indication that they understand how social security and its COBOL-based infrastructure work.

That has not stopped Musk and his followers from claiming that fraud is running rampant in the SSA. However, the numbers do not add up – unless you use faulty numbers.

Trump and Musk have repeatedly claimed that millions of dead people are getting social security checks. For example, Musk posted an SSA table in February that showed more than 20 million people over 100 years of age in the agency database. That included 1,476,906 aged 150 to 369. (Whew! What are those people eating? I’ll have what they’re having!)

Oh wait, that is the fraud he is talking about. The only problem is that those numbers do not show fraud. Those numbers in the SSA’s Numident database are a record of every social security number ever issued, not every social security beneficiary getting paid by SSA. Numbers on actual beneficiaries are listed separately.

Bring Out Your Dead (And Empty Their Pockets)

In addition, there are a couple of problems with the claims of Musk parroted by Trump.

First, there is the fact that SSA automatically stops payments to people at age 115. Plus, there is current data to refute the Trump/Musk claims.

The SSA inspector general, in a 2023 report, took on the issue of the over 100 crowd milking the government for benefits. That examination determined that “almost none of the 18.9 million number holders currently receive SSA payments.” That is why SSA argued at the time that clearing out those records was a waste of time and money. In other words, not efficient.

Service Cuts And Delays

Social Security is primarily a service agency. Initially, staff review applications and determine eligibility for benefits. However, SSA staff also prepare, verify, and maintain records, and investigate and resolve issues that may occur. But, perhaps the most vital function SSA staff perform is to provide information and answer questions for beneficiaries and new applicants.

If Musk and Trump prevail, beneficiaries will find getting help difficult to impossible.

Musk/Trump want to slash seven thousand of the 57,000 staff from SSA.

Field Offices Not Closing – Maybe Just Shrinking Or Disappearing

Following reports of social security field offices closing, Acting Commissioner of Social Security Lee Dudek issued a statement saying, “We have not permanently closed any local field offices this year.”

However, Dudek did not vow to keep all SSA offices open. In fact, lease terminations for 22 SSA facilities are listed on the DOGE website’s “Wall of Receipts.” It is not clear what those facilities are.

Confusing, right? That is understandable. Dudek has muddied the waters before.

Just over a week ago, Dudek, who aligns himself with DOGE, said he would have to shut down SSA when a federal judge barred DOGE from accessing social security recipients' personal information.

“At the very least, it means shutting down my broad unit, the C.I.O. and general counsel,” Mr. Dudek said on the morning of March 21. “I don’t know how I can run an agency doing that. I guess I would have no choice but to terminate everyone’s access.”

That same day, Judge Ellen Hollander issued a “Letter To Counsel” stating that “Acting Commissioner Dudek persists in making threats about shutting down operations at the Social Security Administration, claiming that the TRO (temporary restraining order) that I issued in this case on March 20, 2025, applies to almost all SSA employees.” She called Dudek’s claim, “patently incorrect”.

Dudek then backpeddled, issuing a statement that read in part: “Today, the Court issued clarifying guidance about the Temporary Restraining Order related to DOGE employees and DOGE activities at the Social Security Administration (SSA). Therefore, I am not shutting down the agency.”

Making Access Harder

It does not take a rocket scientist, let alone the owner of a rocket company, to realize that fewer staffers servicing beneficiaries will lead to a breakdown in services. Consequently, that is already happening.

Trump signed an executive order last week that will end the issuance of paper checks from SSA by September 30. Currently 456,000 Americans get their SSA benefits via paper check. However, the order says they will have to set up direct deposit or “other digital payment options”.

The SSA offers instructions on how to switch to direct deposit including a telephone number recipients can call for assistance. But you might want to pack a lunch if you go that route. The wait is long, and with Musk/Trump wanting to cut staff, it is likely to get longer.

Field office staff can not keep up with phone calls, according to the Washington Post, forcing managers to man phones. And, if the managers are not handling the calls well, no one will know. That’s because DOGE eliminated the agency’s call monitoring department.

Looking at SSA call data tracked through March 31 shows an agency swamped with telephone calls, beneficiaries waiting hours to get answers, many of whom apparently give up.

An average of 267,236 people call SSA every day, according to the agency’s records. Only 46.2% actually talk to a representative. For many, the one hour and 28 minutes average wait for the phone to be answered is too much. Those who endure that wait spend an average of another 21.3 minutes on hold waiting for an agent to pick up.

Last year, about 30,000 Americans died waiting for a Social Security benefit decision. For those applying for retirement benefits, the wait is usually fairly short. But such decisions can take months or even years for those applying for disability benefits.

Some members of Congress, such as Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), have begun referring to the cuts in staff and resulting service reduction as “benefit cuts.”

Tech Troubles

Among those SSA staff being cut or offered buy-outs are technical personnel experienced in the agency's COBOL computer programming language. Most of today’s computer engineers are unfamiliar with this programming language that was developed in the late 1950s.

The exit of staff well-versed in COBOL could have dire consequences for future benefit payments.

“If Social Security’s computer systems experience an outage, which has happened twice in recent years, the agency may lack the expertise to resolve it,” wrote Fichtner and Romig.

But, at the core, the threats to SSA are not just technical.

Jack Smalligan, who served in the Office of Management and Budget, where he concentrated on Social Security, agrees.

“We have a bunch of individuals with no or little experience in the operations of the agency trying to run one of the most important benefit programs in our country,” said Smalligan, “The downsizing is happening in such an unstructured, unplanned manner, it puts the agency at special risk.”

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What You Can Do

There are steps you can take to brace yourself from the financial impact of an interruption of SSA benefits.

Start or add to your emergency fund. Your goal should be to have enough to cover three to six months of living expenses.
Review your budget with the idea of eliminating non-essential spending until your emergency fund is full.
Consider a part-time job or freelance work.
Move savings into income-producing investments such as dividend stocks and bonds.