Social Security

The Trump Administration, Elon Musk and their allies in the U.S. Senate and Congress are mounting a full-scale assault on the Social Security Administration. They are using lies and misleading talking points to cast doubt on a program that hasn’t missed a payment in 90 years, and that one out of every five Americans depends on.

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Here are the truths about Social Security:

1. No one over 115 years old, by federal regulation, can receive benefits. 

2. By law, funeral homes must immediately alert the Social Security Administration to stop sending benefits when a person passes away, so only living people are receiving Social Security Benefits. 

3. As long as people are working and drawing a paycheck, taxes replenish the Social Security coffers.

4. The Social Security Trust Fund was designed to accommodate the demographic bulge of the Baby Boomer generation, to last through that span, then be depleted. Unfortunately, the designers of the fund did not foresee the income gap that developed between American workers and the wealthy starting in the 1980s. Worker’s wages became stagnant, and the wealthy were not required to pay their fair share, so the fund did not grow as designed.  

5. If Congress passes legislation to require the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share into the system, Social Security could pay 100% of benefits for the next 75 years and give everyone a $200 per month benefit increase. 

 

Trump and Musk have also taken these steps to undermine the system:

1. They gave tech employees of Elon Musk, with no background checks, full access to hundreds of millions of Americans' private data, including full social security numbers, work history, and earnings records. Fewer than 50 people in the Federal Government had this level of access. A federal judge has fortunately ordered Musk’s employees out of the system. 

2. They have moved to shutter Social Security offices and lay off staff, and have restricted the number of people working the Social Security Hotline, leading to long phone wait times and missed benefits.

3. They want to get rid of in-person office visits, and instead move to an online system to ID Social Security recipients. During COVID-19, a similar move led to 4+ hour phone wait times to get help with the process. These delays could be compounded because many seniors lack the computer resources to digitally prove their identities. 

4. They have laid off thousands of knowledgeable Social Security customer service agents and accountants, even though the staff had already been cut by 50% by Republican congressional budget cuts.

 

Please visit our Take Action page to send a message to your U.S. Senators and Representative telling them Hands Off our Social Security!!