On Friday, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that it was cutting communications staff at its regional offices and moving all official communications to X — which is owned by South African centibillionaire Elon Musk. Musk is also the founder of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has, with President Donald Trump's blessing, made deep cuts to multiple federal agencies and fired thousands of federal workers.

This move could, according to Social Security Works executive director Alex Lawson, mean that some recipients may not get their benefits after being unable to have critical questions answered. Lawson told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that Friday's announcement may lead to the first time in the SSA's 90-year history that payments don't go out to beneficiaries.

"Through war and peace, through boom and bust, through health and pandemic. not a single payment has been missed. But months after this billionaire gets in there that's changed," Lawson said. "I wish I had a better answer for people, but this is going to end in checks not going out, the money that we have earned not getting into our hands. And I believe strongly that that's the point. The cuts they've made have no other rhyme or reason except to literally destroy the system."

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In order to prevent interruptions in benefits, Lawson urged retirees to "make sure they have a hard copy of their of their Social Security file," which includes their wage history and benefit amount. He warned that the digital versions of recipients' Social Security files may not be there "after these DOGE goons are done with their chainsawing."

During the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference, Musk came onstage with a chainsaw gifted to him by Argentinian President Javier Milei (who himself ran on taking a "chainsaw" to Argentina's government agencies), and said during a Q&A session that he wanted to cut Social Security by hundreds of billions of dollars. Lawson gave viewers several tips on how to prepare for a potential interruption in benefits.

"We also advise people to get in contact with the constituent services staff in their federal elected representatives' offices, both their senators and their representative," he continued. "Get a phone number. Get an email. Let them know that you're worried about you or your loved ones' benefits. You want to be able to be in contact with them if a penny is missing, or if it's late, or if it doesn't show up at all."

"Make sure that these folks are not alone, because a missed check for some people is a death sentence," he added. "A missed check for some people is going to mean that they are out on the street. so we have to come together and understand that when this catastrophic failure happens — and I believe it will — there's no indication that they're trying to fix things, just accelerate it."

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