Ohio senator says exposing the last four of your Social Security number no big deal
Last week, I visited three chronically understaffed Social Security “ghost offices” in Ohio. These are Social Security field offices with too few staff to meaningfully serve the local community. That means people have to wait months for an appointment, if they can get one at all. It is getting harder and harder for Americans to claim their hard-earned benefits.
Kelly Phillips Erb recently wrote in Forbesabout the five-month long ordeal her widowed 77-year-old mother went through to claim Social Security benefits. Stories like that are playing out across the country.
This is no accident. The Trump administration engineered the ghost office crisis. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) forced thousands of workers, including many of the most experienced, out of the Social Security Administration. Thousands more workers were reassigned away from field office work to answer the 1-800 number, without proper training. In 2025 alone, Social Security offices lost an estimated 20% of staff.
Ghost offices are now beginning to turn into closed offices. Over a dozen Social Security offices around the country are currently closed due to lack of staff. It simply isn’t possible to run Social Security properly without the dedicated, experienced staff that Musk forced out.
The three Ohio Social Security field offices I visited were in Painesville, Middleburg Heights, and Columbus. Each of these areas is represented by a Republican congressman who is helping to decimate Social Security.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk are wrecking our Social Security system so they can rob it. And every Republican in Congress is complicit. They’ve all voted for budgets that underfund Social Security, while cheering on DOGE’s cuts.
That includes Senator Jon Husted (R-Ohio), who is on the ballot this November. His opponent is longtime Social Security champion Sherrod Brown, who is running to return to the US Senate. Brown has always fought to protect and expand Social Security, and to fully fund the system’s customer service. Meanwhile, Husted and his fellow Republicans are demolishing Social Security brick by brick.
Last November, Husted introduced a so-called “Balanced Budget Amendment.” That would have forced cuts to Social Security, making it illegal to pay promised benefits. Husted wants to deny you the benefits you’ve earned, so that billionaires can buy more golden yachts.
He isn’t alone. The three Ohio Social Security field offices I visited were in Painesville, Middleburg Heights, and Columbus. Each of these areas is represented by a Republican congressman who is helping to decimate Social Security.
The Columbus office is in Ohio’s 15th district, currently represented by Republican Rep. Mike Carey. Carey’s likely Democratic opponent, Adam Miller, joined me at the rally outside the office, where he railed against the Trump administration’s cuts and vowed: “We need to expand Social Security staffing, outreach, and hours. That’s what a Democratic Congress is going to do!”
The Middleburg Heights office is in Ohio’s 7th district, currently represented by Republican Rep. Max Miller—one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the country. The district has a staggering 7,161 Social Security beneficiaries for every field office worker. Like Husted, Max Miller supports a Balanced Budget Amendment that would make it illegal for Social Security to pay promised benefits.
I also visited an office in Painesville, which is in Ohio’s 14th district, currently represented by Rep. David Joyce. The district has lost 16% of its Social Security staff in the last year. Like the other Republicans, Joyce has consistently voted for budgets that underfund Social Security.
During my time in Ohio, I met field office staffers who are struggling to keep up with the workload. They are dedicated public servants who work relentlessly every day, but one person simply can’t do the jobs of five, 10, or 15 people forever. I also met Americans who are struggling to access their hard-earned benefits because of the Trump sabotage.
For the sake of Social Security’s future, we need to vote Republicans out of office this November, and replace them with Democrats who will hold the Trump administration accountable. My trip to Ohio was just the beginning.
Alex Lawson is the Executive Director of Social Security Works, the convening organization of the Strengthen Social Security Coalition -- a coalition made up of over 340 national and state organizations representing over 50 million Americans.