The Trump administration is putting millions of people’s retirement benefits at risk.
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 .
