President Trump’s escalating initiative to drastically cut the federal work force has reached the Social Security Administration, a crucial program that keeps millions of older Americans out of poverty, which said on Friday that it would reduce its head count by more than 12 percent.
The Social Security Administration, which sends about 73 million retired and disabled beneficiaries more than $126 billion each month, said it had plans to cut roughly 7,000 workers from its 57,000-member work force.
The agency will also shutter six regional offices, which coordinate and provide support to workers on the front lines who serve beneficiaries, bringing the total count to four: in the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest/West Region and Southwest. The agency said the reductions would focus on functions and employees “who do not directly provide mission critical services.”
Those who do work with beneficiaries hold positions in field offices, disability hearing offices, payment centers and supporting its toll-free customer service line.
Amid the cuts, two dozen senior staff members have announced their departures, according to a memo issued Friday from Leland C. Dudek, the Social Security Administration’s acting commissioner. He took the reins after the departure of Michelle King, the previous acting commissioner, who left abruptly after refusing to give people working on the government’s cost-cutting initiative access to closely held data.
“I have never seen so many senior executives leave the Social Security Administration at one time,” said Jason Fichtner, who has served in several positions at the agency, including deputy commissioner and chief economist. “Coming so soon after the resignation of Acting Commissioner Michelle King, this is evidence that the agency is in turmoil and needs an experienced leader to take control.”
Democrats in Congress were quick to criticize the agency’s staff reductions, and said it was inevitable that customer service would be harmed.
Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington State, and vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said customer service operations have long had historically low staffing levels and inadequate discretionary funding, pointing to 30-minute wait times when beneficiaries call the toll-free number, which receives 80 million calls annually. That is on top of 57 million calls and 30 million visits to its 1,200 field offices, according to her office.
“Gutting S.S.A.’s work force will make it significantly harder for Americans to get the benefits they have earned — and much harder to get the help they need,” she said in a statement.
The government cost-cutting initiative, known as the Department of Government Efficiency and run by Elon Musk, maintains an online “wall of receipts,” which lists how much it claims to have saved by canceling federal contracts (it has been riddled with errors and vastly inflated its savings). The list includes, among other items, office leases that it plans to cancel, including several related to the Social Security Administration.
The Social Security A.F.G.E. General Committee, a union representing 42,000 Social Security employees, said staffing was already at a 50-year low while the number of beneficiaries increases by 10,000 people daily.
Rich Couture, A.F.G.E. spokesman, said the agency had operational costs of less than 1 percent of annual payments and was highly efficient.
Social Security has been a crucial piece of the social safety net since President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the law creating it in 1935, and it was designed to be self-sufficient. It has a dedicated revenue source from payroll taxes, which workers split with their employers.
The program has faced a financing shortfall for years, partly because of demographic shifts. Falling birthrates mean fewer people are paying into the program, thousands of baby boomers are retiring daily and retirees are living longer and collecting benefits for longer periods. On top of that, because of income inequality, a larger share of the country’s income base is not subject to the tax compared with years past. This is because an ever growing share of high-earners’ income is not subject to payroll taxes.
The trust fund that pays Social Security’s retiree benefits is expected to run dry in 2033, when tax revenue will be enough to pay 79 percent of scheduled benefits. That means beneficiaries’ checks would be reduced by 21 percent if Congress does not intervene.
Several of President Trump’s policy initiatives are expected to worsen that shortfall.
Kate Conger and Mark Miller contributed reporting.
