The Social Security Administration (SSA) has been in the midst of a crisis that its employees have called “total, absolute disaster.” The upheaval is the result of office closures, mass layoffs, service elimination and the imposition of radical policy changes. These advances have resulted in a historic backlog of payment actions. In turn, social security beneficiaries across the country are starting to feel the effects.
Even more importantly, the U.S. population aged 65 and older is increasing at an unprecedented rate. At the same time, the SSA’s staffing levels have dropped to a 50-year low. While the agency has seen a huge drop in personnel, the agency is expected to serve an unparalleled number of recipients. The SSA just announced a new round of 7,000 job cuts. They’ll do this through voluntary buyouts, voluntary resignations and involuntary firings, raising fears of critical, even catastrophic service failures.
Union leaders are sounding the alarm on the proposed cuts. Most concerning, they fear these cuts may not stop with the newly announced 50,000, deepening the agency’s crisis. Rich Couture, a union representative for SSA employees, told the AP that he was doubtful these steps would be effective.
“How does any of that supposedly makes this operation more efficient? How does it improve service? How does it improve productivity? Our position is that losing 7,000 people doesn’t do any of those things,” – Rich Couture
The SSA administers the most popular and most effective government program in the United States. Today, it administers the nation’s most important social insurance programs, retirement, disability, and survivor benefits. In the past few months, the SSA’s website has gone down multiple times, further restricting access to these critical services.
The agency now is in the midst of a staffing crisis. Moreover, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has charged it with running a “Ponzi scheme.” Musk was responding to a temporary court order that barred his new “department of government efficiency,” Doge, from accessing SSA data. His remarks were in direct reply to this legal defeat. Musk has previously made the misleading claim that dead people are collecting welfare. The acting commissioner of the SSA has unequivocally dismissed these allegations.
Even SSA’s acting commissioner, Leland Dudek, has anointed Doge to guide decision-making at the agency. He stated that the SSA will continue to monitor its operations and make necessary adjustments to ensure accurate payments while safeguarding beneficiaries’ programs.
“We have listened to our customers, Congress, advocates and others, and we are updating our policy to provide better customer service to the country’s most vulnerable populations,” – Leland Dudek
The staffing cuts come at a time when the SSA is already experiencing a high rate of improper payments due to insufficient staff available to update records. John Oertel, a longtime SSA employee with over three decades of experience, noted that the lack of personnel is not indicative of fraud but rather a failure to report income accurately due to understaffing.
“Because the agency is so understaffed that people who report their income, that’s not getting reported into the system. Musk and his group are saying look at all these people who are being overpaid; they must be committing fraud. They’re not committing fraud. They’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing, but because there are so few employees, none of that information is getting into the system.” – John Oertel
Oertel highlighted the real-life consequences of such deep cuts. He cautioned that the agency’s entire structure of service would come crashing down if staffing levels keep dropping.
“You’re going to see a wholesale collapse in the agency’s service structure. Call wait times will skyrocket, wait times for appointments, processing times—all of it going to skyrocket because there won’t be enough people to do the jobs, which opens the door to privatization.” – John Oertel
The SSA has come under fire for its office closures and a recently announced return-to-office mandate. Union representatives say the mandate was issued only one day before the buyout offer ended. They fear that this timing would break their contract deals.
I fail to understand why the integrity of social security payments has become so politicized. In 2024, direct deposit fraud rates fell to an incredible 0.00625%. Furthermore, under 1% of social security payments were found to be erroneous. So clearly both the backlog and the staffing situation are urgent crises. Fraud is not as prevalent as critics would have you believe.
In a recent article, a longtime, anonymous SSA employee vented their frustrations over the agency’s current state. As a military veteran, they knew what was difficult and wanted to improve.
“It’s just been a lot of craziness, a lot of foolishness. Until they get rid of Doge and the person in office right now, and the Republicans actually get a backbone and stand up for something for once in their lives, things are just going to be complete chaos. That’s really the best word to describe SSA right now, just complete, utter chaos.” – A longtime SSA employee and military veteran
The SSA is sailing in rough seas these days. Both staff and beneficiaries have monumental hurdles going forward. It just means the agency should allocate its resources strategically. This will prove it can provide the vital services Americans depend on without more meltdowns even amid unprecedented oversight and attack.