Social Security is in trouble, warns U.S. Rep Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts).
The ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee recently issued a press release describing the actions being taken by President Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk as creating a "five-alarm fire" at the benefits program. The congressman also asserted that some of the moves being made by Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) amount to "back-door benefit cuts."
Is Social Security really facing a "five-alarm fire" because of Trump's actions? Here are four things you need to know.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Trump is cutting Social Security's staff
Rep. Neal claimed that Trump and Musk are "gutting customer service" at Social Security. Whether or not that description is fully accurate or not is debatable, but there's no question that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is eliminating staff.
On Feb. 28, SSA announced plans to cut 7,000 positions. This move will reduce the number of employees from 57,000 to 50,000. The agency said its cuts would "focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission-critical services." SSA is also consolidating its 10 regional offices down to four.
The number of employees at the program was already at a 50-year low before this announcement, according to former SSA Commissioner Martin O'Malley. CBS reported last month that the agency was already short-staffed and significantly backlogged in terms of dealing with disability claims and customer service issues.
2. DOGE is trying to clean up Social Security's database
Musk and DOGE have "allowed living beneficiaries to be classified as dead," according to Rep. Neal. In support of this claim, he referenced a Seattle Times article that described the plight of 82-year-old Seattle resident Ned Johnson. SSA recently tried to claw back money it had paid to Johnson and halt his benefits, asserting that he was dead.
It's unclear why Johnson was flagged as dead by SSA. However, DOGE has been trying to clean up Social Security's database. The DOGE team recently posted an update about this effort on X, the social media platform Musk owns, which was formerly known as Twitter:
For the past 3 weeks, @SocialSecurity has been executing a major cleanup of their records. Approximately 7 million numberholders, all listed age 120+, have now been marked as deceased.
-- Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) March 25, 2025
Another ~5 million to go. https://t.co/wtfYvYMIeW pic.twitter.com/z2GUQnPkhd
However, the incomplete records the DOGE team found don't mean that millions of dead Americans were continuing to receive benefit payments. A previous audit in 2023 found nearly 19 million people born before 1920 were listed without death dates in a Social Security database -- but not a database that is used for payments. Instead, it's one that includes every Social Security number application in the history of the program. So millions of those individuals will have no officially listed dates of death in their files simply because they lived before the agency began collecting electronic records. Almost nobody with a date of birth before 1920 is collecting benefits today.
The agency decided not to correct that database then because the "limited benefit" to be gained from scrubbing it wasn't worth the cost. Also worth noting: Under a policy established a decade ago, SSA automatically stops making benefit payments to individuals when they reach the age of 115.
3. Social Security will no longer allow people to apply for benefits over the phone
Rep. Neal believes a new policy implemented by SSA will restrict people's access to Social Security benefits: Ending the ability of Americans to apply for their benefits over the phone. Applications will have to be made either online or in person at a local Social Security office. This policy will also be in effect for direct deposit changes.
The Massachusetts congressman says this move will be "burdensome for our nation's seniors and people with disabilities." However, SSA insists that the new policy will strengthen its identification verification process and prevent fraud.
4. The White House insists that no benefit cuts will be made
The White House issued a public statement on March 11 reiterating that the Trump administration won't cut Social Security benefits. That statement did, however, claim that there has been significant waste and fraud in government programs, including Social Security.
While Rep. Neal charges the actions taken by Musk and DOGE amount to "back-door benefit cuts," none directly impact the amount of the Social Security benefits that people are entitled to.
However, some of Trump's other policies -- notably including eliminating federal taxes on Social Security benefits, overtime pay, and tips -- could accelerate how quickly the Social Security Trust Funds run out of money. An argument could be made that these policies do amount to back-door benefit cuts since Social Security benefits will have to be reduced by around 23% when the Trust Funds are depleted. And this is already on course to happen in 2035 unless Congress passes and a president signs a law to reform the program's funding.
