social security

'Republicans want you to work until you drop dead': Trump official ripped for new proposal

The Trump Social Security Administration Commissioner says raising the retirement eligibility age for Social Security recipients is being considered by the administration. Democratic lawmakers responded defiantly.

“I think everything’s being considered, will be, will be considered,” Commissioner Frank Bisignano told Fox Business on Friday when asked.

Bisignano insisted that the White House “is completely committed to protect and preserve” Social Security, but that “the generations that are coming in will probably have a different set of rules than we had.”

Frank Bisignano is a former CEO of a U.S. multinational financial technology company, and appeared on a list of the highest-paid CEOs in the country, according to the AFL-CIO.

READ MORE: Grocery Price Surges Are Relative Says New Trump Fed Official

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed, “I will not cut one penny from Social Security or Medicare and I will not raise the retirement age by one day. Not for one day.”

Critics blasted the development.

“Republicans gave away trillions In tax cuts for the wealthy. Now they are asking Americans to work longer. We won’t stand for it,” wrote U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA).

“Trump’s cronies let the cat out of the bag. They’re ready to raise the retirement age. NOT ON MY WATCH! They want to cut your benefits and hand them over to Wall Street. We’re in a fight to save Social Security, and I’m not backing down. That’s a promise,” declared U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-CT).

Warren Gunnels, Minority Staff Director for the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member, Bernie Sanders (I-VT), wrote: “If Bernie’s Social Security bill was signed into law, Social Security would be solvent for the next 75 years, benefits would go up by $2,400 & the bottom 91% of Americans would not pay a penny more in taxes. Instead, Republicans want you to work until you drop dead.”

READ MORE: White House Links Kimmel’s Comments to ‘Dangerous Rhetoric’ It Says ‘Drove’ Kirk’s Killer

Former Secretary of Labor, Professor Robert Reich, added: “A worker making $50,000 a year contributes to Social Security on 100% of their income. A CEO making $20 million a year contributes to Social Security on less than 1% of their income. Instead of raising the retirement age, we should scrap the Social Security tax cap.”

The Social Security tax cap, the amount that is subject to the Social Security tax, is $176,100.

According to Data for Progress, a progressive policy and polling organization, more Americans support lowering the Social Security retirement age than raising it or keeping it the same.

READ MORE: ‘Massive Shift’: FCC Chair Says Local TV Will ‘Decide What the American People Think’

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Trump official slammed for saying this policy is 'backdoor to privatizing Social Security'

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday the accounts created by President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Act," are a "backdoor for privatizing Social Security."

Speaking at a policy event organized by Breitbart News in Washington Wednesday, Bessent said, "If you get a pet, you understand everything about your pet. So if you have accounts, [you'd understand] why are you investing that way. Understand the power of compound interest."

"Social Security is a defined benefit plan paid out to the extent that ... if all of a sudden these accounts grow, and you have hundreds of thousands of dollars for your retirement, then that's a game changer too," Bessent added.

READ MORE: The one man who has the strength to finish off Donald Trump

The secretary's remarks led to criticism on social media, including from Democratic lawmakers.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) wrote on the social platform X: "@SecScottBessent is saying the quiet part out loud by admitting that the Trump admin is seeking a "backdoor for privatizing Social Security." They're already ripping health care away from millions on Medicaid and now they've made it clear that your social security is next."

Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) said in a post on X: "First, they gutted Medicaid. Now they’re coming for Social Security, and they’re not even trying to hide it. We won’t let them rip away a benefit that millions of Americans have worked their whole lives to earn."

Democratic strategist Tim Hogan wrote: "Have never seen a more textbook saying the quiet part out loud? BESSENT: 'In a way, it is a backdoor for privatizing Social Security.'"

READ MORE: Trump has only one way out of this mess

Economic analyst Michael Linden wrote: "They just cut Medicaid (while lying about it) despite massive public opposition. They think they can apply the same tactics to Social Security next."

Tax analyst Brendan Duke wrote: "I assumed this was a paraphrase but Secretary Bessent literally says 'In a way, it is a backdoor for privatizing Social Security. Social Security is a defined benefit plan paid out...'"

The X account "Social Security Works" wrote: "BREAKING: Trump's Treasury Secretary admits the Big Ugly Bill is a "backdoor to privatizing Social Security". The means handing your hard earned benefits over to Wall Street!"

Watch the video of Bessent's comments below, or by clicking this link.

READ MORE: 'Do it! ' Trump orders top Republican to bulldoze obstacle stopping far-right prosecutors


From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

'Shocking': Social Security callers wait hours before being 'disconnected with no warning'

Wait times for people calling the Social Security Administration (SSA) have reportedly skyrocketed in the first few months of President Donald Trump's second term.

That's according to a Thursday article in USA TODAY, which reported that Social Security beneficiaries are being out through a particularly arduous and time-consuming process whenever they try to reach the agency by phone. In early May, the outlet reported that average wait times had increased to 90 minutes per caller, and the average speed of an answer excluding call-back wait time was roughly 20 minutes.

"USA TODAY reporters called Social Security's 1-800 line multiple times over several days and found the wait times to be consistently over an hour," the report read. "Multiple times they did not reach a live person before the line disconnected with no warning."

READ MORE: 'It's not a cult': Trump slammed for selling 'gross' t-shirts calling him 'daddy'

The poor customer service at the agency also came up during a recent hearing in a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing, with multiple House Democrats bringing up exceedingly long wait times to SSA commissioner Frank Bisignano. While the SSA used to display real-time performance metrics showing callers the average wait time and expected number of days for a benefits application to be processed, Bisignano took those metrics down. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) slammed Bisignano over that decision, after he defended it by saying he felt the metrics would discourage people from calling.

"How can you know how the Social Security Administration is doing with regard to answering calls or processing benefit applications unless you have these metrics?" Chu told USA TODAY. "You have to compare them over time so it is shocking that they would just remove that data if they are so confident about all of these metrics that he was talking about."

Even prior to the Trump administration's across-the-board mass firings at multiple federal agencies, staffing levels at the SSA were already at a 10-year low, according to the paper. Earlier this year, acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek ordered mass layoffs at the agency that ultimately amounted to shedding 7,000 of SSA's estimated 57,000-person workforce. And USA TODAY reported that roughly 3,000 SSA workers have already accepted buyout offers.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who leads Senate Democrats' "Social Security War Room," called the long wait times "deeply troubling." When Warren's office called Social Security's 1-800 number, wait times were as long as three hours, and averaged roughly one hour and 45 minutes. Her office also found that more than 50% of all calls were never answered by a human being, and that a majority of calls ended after a caller was inadvertently disconnected after being on hold.

READ MORE: 'Chilling effect': Faith groups slam GOP investigation as 'invasion of religious liberty'

Click here to read USA TODAY's full report.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

'Made their lives more difficult': Nicolle Wallace guest reveals why Trump is 'vulnerable'

Despite having majorities in both chambers of Congress and having more than three years left in his second term, President Donald Trump has never been more "politically vulnerable," according to one analyst.

On Wednesday, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace interviewed New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who argued in his latest essay that Trump's policies are having a direct impact on his base, which is slowly growing more resentful. Kristof pointed out that he lives in a small Oregon town that voted for Trump by a two-to-one margin, and that he's hearing firsthand from Trump supporters that his pattern of corrupt behavior and recent actions have left a bad taste in the mouths of even his most loyal backers.

"A lot of the issues the Democrats have talked about just seem kind of distant. But what does matter? Well, for example, one friend of mine, they're in a pro-Trump household, but the woman recently tried to sign up for Social Security, and she has had immense difficulty doing so. Pesumably partly because Trump pushed 7,000 Social Security staff out, even at a time when staffing was at a 50-year low," Kristof said.

READ MORE: 'Everyone is afraid to tell him': Trump brutally mocked following 'meltdown' with reporter

Wallace responded that one "upshot" of the "disruptions and extra-long waits for assistance as [Social Security recipients] wait on hold for hours" could be that callers may "think about how Trump and [Elon] Musk have made their lives more difficult." Kristof went on to say that the Trump administration's "impositions on daily life" are starting to impact MAGA on a visceral level, like the Republican budget bill's cuts to Medicaid, "hit voters in a very personal way." He opined that if this pattern continues, it could even turn deep-red Trump strongholds into battlegrounds.

"We're not going to change every MAGA voter. But if one can reduce the number by 5% or 10%, and especially in places like Wisconsin, Ohio, et cetera, boy, that makes a difference," he said. "And I think that is coming."

According to Kristof, even countries with authoritarian leaders — like Hungary — are seeing their leaders bleed popularity due to "banal issues" like grocery prices and healthcare and retirement security. And he added that Trump's "corruption issues" could prove to be what pushes MAGA over the edge in upcoming election cycles.

"So I think that maybe particularly at a time when it's harder for voters to establish what is true and what isn't, then these economic factors have special weight, and I hope Democrats will really pounce on them," he said. "And on the corruption issues ... I mean, Trump was elected in part on these accusations of this swamp. And of course, he is verifiably creating more of a swamp than ever."

READ MORE: Deep-red Trump-loving Missouri town 'tested' as a 'beloved local' is detained

Watch the segment below, or by clicking this link.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Leaked audio: Trump Social Security chief had to Google his job

Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano, who was a Wall Street executive before overseeing SSA, recently made a stunning admission to agency employees during a town hall event this week.

ABC News reported Thursday that it had obtained leaked audio from an event in which Bisignano spoke with Social Security managers from across the United States, in which the new SSA commissioner admitted he had no knowledge of the job when President Donald Trump offered it to him.

"So, I get a phone call and it's about Social Security. And I'm really, I'm really not, I swear I'm not looking for a job," Bisignano is heard saying. "And I'm like, 'Well, what am I going to do?' So, I'm Googling Social Security. You know, one of my great skills, I'm one of the great Googlers on the East Coast."

READ MORE: 'An offense in Canada': Trump may be legally barred from traveling to the G7

"I'm like, 'What the heck's the commissioner of Social Security?" He continued. "Put that as the headline for the Post: 'Great Googler in Chief. Chief in Googler' or whatever."

As commissioner of SSA, Bisignano is in charge of administering payments for the roughly 70 million retired and disabled Americans who rely on the agency for their income, along with surviving dependents of beneficiaries. Before he was tapped to lead the agency, Bisignano was chairman and CEO of Fiserv, which is a publicly traded financial technology company. He promised SSA managers at the town hall that he would not dismantle the agency.

"This is America's, you know, safety net -- it's not going away. And hopefully you hear me say this every day," he said. "You know who wants me to tell people that? Guess. The president."

Prior to his confirmation as commissioner, the agency was led by acting SSA commissioner Leland Dudek, who assumed the role after previous acting SSA commissioner Michelle King resigned. King stepped down earlier this year after she refused requests from representatives from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access sensitive SSA information.

READ MORE: (Opinion) There's a hidden provision in that big ugly bill that makes Trump king

Click here to read ABC's report in full.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

'We must use caution': House Republicans give warning to Trump's new Social Security chief

After financial services executive Frank Bisignano was confirmed this week to lead the Social Security Administration (SSA), a group of 15 House Republicans is now urging him to seriously address some of the lingering issues within the agency — including problems exacerbated by President Donald Trump's administration.

The Arizona Republic recently reported that a group of 15 House Republicans who are predominantly from swing districts co-signed a letter to Bisignano about their "concerns" with the SSA following his Tuesday confirmation vote. In the letter — which the Republic's Laura Gersony observed "alternated between praise and polite uneasiness" — the lawmakers told Bisignano that they hoped he would use his time as commissioner to focus on improving the SSA's increasingly poor customer service.

"We commend and support the continued efforts to make our bloated bureaucracy more efficient for the American people," the 15 Republicans wrote. "However, we must use caution and consider the impact any changes would have so there are no disruptions in services for our seniors and disabled who depend on the Social Security Administration to receive retirement benefits and supplemental security income."

READ MORE: 'An embarrassment': Marjorie Taylor Greene buried over her committee hearing meltdown

The letter comes on the heels of a statement by former acting SSA commissioner Leland Dudek, who led the SSA after former acting commissioner Michelle Wolf resigned in February after she clashed with Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) representatives. Dudek acknowledged the long wait times and packed lobbies that have long plagued retirees — but blamed them on former President Joe Biden's administration "advancing radical DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] and gender ideology over improving service for all Americans."

Dudek also spearheaded an effort to downsize the SSA's 57,000-member workforce, and convinced roughly 3,000 of them to take buyouts. Last month, the SSA announced that all official communications would be done exclusively through X (which is owned by DOGE co-founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk) rather than issue press releases. DOGE also cancelled leases for SSA offices in multiple rural communities, meaning that retirees and disabled people who depend on Social Security now have to drive for several hours to their nearest office just to have basic questions answered.

Advocates warned that those measures could result in eligible recipients losing benefits they are entitled to through no fault of their own, given that many beneficiaries are elderly and may not have the ability to use new technology or leave their home to travel to an SSA office.

""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," Social Security Works executive director Alex Lawson told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow in April. "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."

READ MORE: 'Cracked me up': Social media erupts after Dem makes fun of Trump official during hearing

Click here to read the Republic's full report (subscription required). And click here to read the Republicans' letter to Bisignano.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

'A bad sign': Trump official offers bizarre explanation for major Social Security problem

Even before President Donald Trump began his second term, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has been plagued with poor customer service. But for once, the administration isn't pinning the blame on former President Joe Biden.

In his Tuesday MSNBC column, author Ryan Teague Beckwith observed that the SSA has long had a reputation for excessively long wait times for callers who have simple questions about their benefits. And staffing levels at the agency were already at critically low levels even before Trump was elected to his second term.

But in a recent statement to USA TODAY, acting commissioner Leland Dudek chose to blame not Biden's failure to properly staff the agency or former SSA commissioner Martin O'Malley's leadership, but rather on "advancing radical DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] and gender ideology over improving service for all Americans."

READ MORE: 'Massive deception': Trump voters feel betrayed after ICE detains son

Earlier this spring, roughly 3,000 of the agency's approximately 57,000 workers took buyouts amid Dudek's effort to downsize the SSA's workforce. This has resulted in already long hold times being exacerbated, and lobbies of SSA offices being "flooded" by beneficiaries seeking solutions to problems they weren't able to solve over the phone.

Dudek also rolled out additional identity verification purposes that forces beneficiaries to jump through additional hoops online in order to prove who they are, which has resulted in advocates sounding the alarm that this could prevent some retirees from accessing their earned benefits. Because many SSA recipients are elderly, it isn't a guarantee that all beneficiaries will be able to navigate online verification processes. Beckwith argued that Dudek's focus on DEI was a distraction from real problems.

"DEI has become a scapegoat of convenience for the Trump administration, especially when the problem is being caused by its own policies. It's a political argument, made for the benefit of Trump's largely white and male base," Beckwith wrote. "But when those arguments start to be made by the people in charge of making sure the checks go out on time, it's a bad sign."

On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano to lead the SSA by a 53-47 margin. Bisignano has been referred to as a "DOGE guy" by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, given his sympathy toward Tesla and CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency and its goal of slashing federal spending — particularly for Social Security – by hundreds of billions of dollars.

READ MORE: 'Where is Duffy?' Transportation secretary blames Biden as crisis unfolds in aviation system

Click here to read Beckwith's full column on MSNBC.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

'Defend Social Security': Maddow calls attention to campaign to stop Trump admin

The Social Security Administration (SSA) may have a new commissioner depending on the outcome of a Tuesday confirmation hearing. And members of Congress are loudly condemning the record of the man President Donald Trump has nominated for the role.

According to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, SSA Commissioner-designate Frank Bisignano is a "DOGE guy," in reference to Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. And that has caused alarm among Democrats in Congress, who on Monday held a rally in Washington D.C. to defend Social Security.

"They know Congress would never allow them to take that money without a fight, unless they turned enough of the public against Social Security. So how do they do that? By wrecking its reputation with big lies," said former SSA commissioner Martin O'Malley, who led the agency during former President Joe Biden's administration. "Like illegal immigrants get benefits. They don't. They're prohibited. Big lies like there's a zombie apocalypse. There's no zombie apocalypse! Dead people do not get Social Security benefits. Big lies like it's a Ponzi scheme. Poppycock! It's not a Ponzi scheme. Bitcoin might be, but not Social Security."

READ MORE: 'Firing generals to pay for Trump's parade': Hegseth ripped over new 'slash and burn' plan

"What we see in Frank Bisignano is somebody who is a DOGE crony," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)

"It's time this ends! We not only have to stop Social Security being cut, we have to expand it for the first time in more than 50 years," said Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.)

"I will be voting in favor of every American who counts on Social Security. I am a hard no on Frank Bisignano," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) "No way. I am not in favor of handing over the keys to our Social Security Administration to a man who says that he will do whatever Donald Trump wants, whatever Elon Musk wants, no matter how much it's there, just to help the billionaires and to take away from those who have paid into the Social Security system for years."

Currently, the SSA is being led by interim commissioner Leland Dudek. He replaced Michelle King, who Trump initially tapped to temporarily lead the agency before Bisignano's confirmation hearing. King resigned abruptly in February after refusing to hand over sensitive Social Security information to DOGE employees.

READ MORE: CNN data analyst reveals real reason Trump stopped talking about running for a third term

Watch Maddow's segment below, or by clicking this link.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Republican rep reveals why DOGE was a 'waste of time' — and delivers warning shot to Social Security

One Republican in the House of Representatives is now openly criticizing Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

On Monday, Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) told CNN host Dana Bash that he felt DOGE was a doomed effort as it didn't go far enough in cutting government spending. Joyce argued that DOGE's execution was flawed in that it didn't allow input from the public on how voters felt the national debt could best be reduced, and added that if it were up to him, DOGE would have focused on earned benefits programs that constitute the bulk of "mandatory" (versus discretionary) spending.

"DOGE would have been much better served if they would have taken on the true drivers of our mandatory debt. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid," Joyce said.

READ MORE: Jim Jordan silent after critics hurl accusations of corruption on behalf of billionaires

Bash reminded Joyce that President Donald Trump repeatedly promised voters that he would leave those programs alone. The Ohio Republican then responded that those cuts could still have been made had DOGE "take[n] the time to explain to the American people" why it was recommending cutting earned benefits.

"We didn't do that. So I think that was sort of a waste of time," Joyce said. "Because we're lying to the youth of our country if we're telling them we're collecting Social Security and it's gonna be there for them."

However, despite Joyce's characterization of DOGE as being too gun-shy about cutting Americans' earned benefits, it's worth noting that Musk himself was vocal about his goal of cutting Social Security to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars per year. During a March interview with Fox Business, Musk insisted without evidence that there was at least $500 billion worth of Social Security fraud per year that he intended to cut.

"That's the big one to eliminate," Musk told host Larry Kudlow. "That's, sort of, half trillion, six or seven hundred billion a year."

READ MORE: (Opinion) Florida Republicans aren't putting up with Ron DeSantis' temper tantrums anymore

Watch the clip of Joyce's remarks below, or by clicking this link.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Trump’s latest change to Social Security 'going to end in checks not going out': advocate

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."

READ MORE: 'The Southern border is under attack': Trump orders US military to take over strip of land

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."

READ MORE: (Opinion) Trump is about to target something far more terrible than tariffs

Watch the segment below, or by clicking this link.


From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

'Devastating': Trump admin marks thousands legally 'dead' to stop them from making money

Approximately 6,000 immigrants who are legally in the United States will now no longer be able to do anything that requires a Social Security number.

The Washington Post recently reported that President Donald Trump's administration has since moved thousands of predominantly Latino immigrants to the Social Security Administration's (SSA) "Death Master File," even though all of them are still alive. But with this move, these legal immigrants will be counted among the roughly 85 million Americans the SSA has categorized as dead since 1936. And according to the Post, they will be "never be able to do anything in the U.S. that requires a Social Security Number check ever again." This includes earning a paycheck from a job, receiving disability payments, opening a bank account, turning on utilities and other basic necessities.

According to the Trump administration, the immigrants who have been added to the death database had ties to terrorist activity or had criminal records. However, it provided the Post with no proof to back up its claims, other than saying that some of the names of the people it legally categorized as "dead" were on the FBI's terror watch list. White House spokesperson Elizabeth Huston said that the move was done as a means of incentivizing the migrants to remove themselves from the United States.

READ MORE: Trump transportation sec attacks Dem for opposing FAA cuts after deadly helicopter crash

“President Trump promised mass deportations and by removing the monetary incentive for illegal aliens to come and stay, we will encourage them to self deport,” Huston said. “He is delivering on his promise he made to the American people.”

The approximately 6,000 people added to the "Death Master File" all came to the U.S. through a program offered by former President Joe Biden's administration that granted temporary work permits to immigrants who didn't have visas, which included hundreds of thousands of people. Trump cancelled that program, putting those migrants in legal limbo. And the group of 6,000 people officially became "dead" according to the federal government following the issuance of a memorandum signed by both Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting SSA commissioner Leland Dudek.

The SSA itself wrote of the dangers of being wrongfully declared "dead" in a blog post last month, saying the "financial hardship" from being added to the database by mistake can be "devastating." Several agency employees anonymously told the Post that the decision to put living people in the death database was "shocking and unprecedented." The idea to do so apparently originated from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, according to an unnamed White House official

"If you want to know what DOGE is doing at Social Security, this is it," the official said.

READ MORE: 'Grinding to a halt': Stunning chart shows Trump's impact on Biden 'manufacturing boom'

Click here to read the Post's report in full (subscription required).


From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
@2026 - AlterNet Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. - "Poynter" fonts provided by fontsempire.com.