Budget Cuts at What Cost?

According to the White House FACT CHECK Article of March 11, 2025, President Trump will always protect Social Security and Medicare. The article asserts that the press is lying about what Trump and Musk have really said. This WH directive seems incredulous that any person would believe a lying press and doubt the President’s protection of these agencies. After pointing to various statistics indicating reasons for federal cost-cutting, the WH article concludes by asking about what kind of person would not support eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending? 

The answer of course, is that no citizen is against eliminating misspending in our government that ends up costing taxpayers. 

But take a closer look at this White House directive- in particular on the topic of Social Security: 

• There is important context to understand behind the data being used. 

• Misleading narratives from Trump and Musk about Social Security are being presented. 

• DOGE is enacting extremely aggressive actions at the SSA- that have long-term repercussions. 

It is no wonder that many Americans are skeptical of President Trump’s promise to protect their Social Security benefits. His pledge to “protect” Social Security doesn’t specifically guarantee that those benefits won’t be reduced or altered. It’s unlikely most voters see such cuts as part of what they reasonably assumed was implied.

In the White House statement, the fact they use to point out fraud and waste at the SSA is correct. It is based on previous reports, even from SSA’s own oversight division, the Office of Inspector General-(OIG). The White House article states:

“The Social Security Administration made an estimated $72 billion in improper payments between 2015 and 2022.”  

Looking beyond this statistic, it does not reveal that the majority of these improper payments were overpayments, based on SSA mistakes or beneficiaries failing to comply with requirements (intentionally or otherwise). During those years of 2015 to 2022, the SSA paid almost $8.6 trillion in benefits- including those $71.8 billion overpayments. By 2023, a portion of the incorrectly paid $71.8 billion of improper benefits had been recovered, leaving a remaining $23 billion overpayment balance. Those improper payments of $71.8 billion amount to less than 1% over a 7 year period.

The WH directive continues that the press is lying about Trump and that he has repeatedly promised to always protect Social Security. But contributing to skepticism about his promise is that both the president and Musk have misrepresented data about the SSA, and undermined its reputation.  For instance, they’ve made incorrect claims about millions of dead people receiving benefits. At a recent Florida press conference, Trump said that “we have millions and millions of people over 100 years old” receiving Social Security benefits. Trump’s own newly appointed SSA chief Lee Dudek later contradicted him, clarifying that deceased centenarians are “not necessarily receiving benefits.” More to the point, correct statistics show that of the 67 million people who receive SS, only 0.1% are over the age of 100. This would actually indicate about 67,000 people over 100 receiving benefits, not millions and millions- and there are no indicators that these are fraudulent recipients either. 

Musk has made confusing remarks about SS as well, asserting he’s finding “crazy things” in the SS system, like people who are “150 years old.” He joked in one post, “Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security.” However, policy experts contend that Musk is misreading the agency’s records systems- apparently confusing people still showing in the SS system that have no date of death recorded- a data set that has nothing to do with those actually receiving monthly payments. This misreading of the data- along with repeated inaccurate statements- only contribute to mistrust of the Trump administration’s efforts to streamline the SSA. So no, contrary to misleading claims from Trump and Musk, it is NOT true that tens of millions of people over 100 years old are receiving SS benefits.. 

Some confusion has arisen from SS’s legacy software system based on COBOL programming language developed in the 50’s. COBOL, while one of the older programming languages, remains reliable and essential, especially in finance and government (for instance, powering 95% of ATM transactions and 80% of in-person banking). However, the COBOL system doesn’t have a built-in “date” data type. Entries with missing or incomplete birthdates will usually show an error or use whatever placeholder the programmer created. These SSA software system issues have been reported on over the years, with changes repeatedly decided against, due to a cost estimated upward of 9 million to update the system. 

In addition to public misstatements and over-simplification of complex problems, here are a few other things that citizens see happening to their critical Social Security services:

• 12% of the workforce or 7,000 of its 57,000 workers, are being cut from the SSA, potentially reducing customer service (especially to vulnerable populations), or impacting timely/correct payments. The agency is already at a 50-year staffing low, even as the US population ages. It is estimated that the SSA only has 1 worker per every 1,200 recipients, only likely to get worse over time.

• “My Social Security” benefits portal has had many recent outages and problems. Also SSI recipients (disabled and low-income seniors) recently saw an incorrect post on the SSA website, saying that they were “not receiving benefits.” It was later clarified as incorrect.

• Increasingly long phone wait times often stall questions or prevent problems from being addressed.

• Tighter identity-proofing measures are now in place to reduce fraud- so identity verification over the phone has been stopped (necessitating in-person office visits).

• In-person access to offices is decreasing- a very badly timed situation now that the need for in-person identity verification has increased. Among the 7,500 federal offices being shuttered across other agencies, 10 SS offices have been or are in the process of being closed. SSA insists that no full-service offices will close however. 
• Privacy concerns of SS recipients have escalated due to breaches of personal data attributed to DOGE.
• A 100% default overpayment policy has been reinstated- which means even if a citizen received overpayments due to an SSA error, their SS payments are fully withheld until their overpayment is paid off. (For example, one woman said she was hit with a $62,000 bill for overpayments relating to Social Security survivor payments she received after her father died when she was a child). For now, SSA has temporarily defaulted this ruling to withholding 50% of old-age, survivors, and disability insurance benefits. 

“What kind of a person doesn’t support eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending that ultimately costs taxpayers more?” concludes the White House article. But the real question should be- by what methods is this elimination process being done, at what cost, and what ultimate aim?

In the current DOGE cost-cutting climate, there does not seem to be any attempt to address such questions.Cutting staff, shutting offices, and dismantling services only increase workload for those personnel that remain. This impacts customer services, lowers employee morale, and then leads to more resignations. This cycle is ultimately destructive to the entire organization. 

According to former SSA commissioner Martin O’Malley, the first DOGE cuts resulted in a “50 percent reduction in the people that keep the IT systems going.” He believes these cuts are to blame for issues plaguing the agency. He says that continued DOGE cutbacks could “cascade into a collapse” of the entire Social Security system- possibly within the next 30-90 days. One lawsuit about changes at the SSA that impact disabled people said that the overhaul is “placing governance over the governed.” 

There is also no transparent discussion about any increased costs in continuing or improving SSA services. For instance, updates to the previously-mentioned COBOL system “death data” are supposed to take place, yet previous estimates indicated that it would take 199,000 hours for SSA employees to do it, with possibly $12 million in administrative expenses. That is hardly the cost-cutting that DOGE is touting, nor are these cost factors being transparently noted. DOGE messaging is narrowly fixed on immediate reduction of staff and budget, not workplace conditions, long-term costs, service quality, or the agency’s future. There seems to be a disturbing lack of consideration for employees or the agency’s future at all. 

Which leads into a final question. Why does the Trump administration continue to actively misrepresent SSA data? Some see this as a prelude– discrediting the SSA in the public trust, then eventually leading into a reduction of benefits. Some see the ultimate goal of the Trump administration to fully privatize the Social Security agency altogether. 

A leaked email from acting SSA commissioner Leland Dudek seems to reflect that direction. Dudek calls for staff to “revitalize SSA operations by streamlining activities” and “outsource nonessential functions to industry experts.” The idea is not new. In 2005 George W. Bush unsuccessfully proposed privatizing SS– to eventually replace SS with a new system of privatization accounts- where workers divert a third of their payroll taxes into self-directed private accounts. 

But critics of privatization say it’s riskier for citizens (for instance, with market risk when people whose 401(k) plans drop, as during the 2008 stock market crash). Unequal retirement outcomes for less financially literate recipients, and loss of guaranteed benefits such as with current SS payments are other downsides. Plus the transition costs of taking SS to a private system are massive (policymakers must find funds for current retirees, while leaving younger workers enough money for a new private account system). Reduction in retirement benefits is a realistic looming possibility with privatization. 

So despite assurances from White House directives and President Trump, one of America’s key social safety nets- Social Security benefits for retirees and vulnerable populations– appears to be under siege. These so-called efficiency measures come at a cost. What protections, and in what form, this administration will offer in the future remains to be seen- not just for the country, but for millions who rely on Social Security benefits to make ends meet.