An urgent message about Social Security by Ruth Neuwald Falcon

On Saturday, an article in Newsweek, Social Security Announces Major Cut to ‘Bloated Workforce’, reports that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is planning to reduce its workforce by 7,000 employees. It also notes that the SSA has been “struggling with a 50-year low in staffing, combined with a higher-than-ever number of beneficiaries.”

This afternoon, Jess Craven, one of my go-to people, wrote in her Chop Wood, Carry Water Daily Actions newsletter:

I heard from a trusted friend yesterday who passed along some information she’d gotten from a lawyer friend who works in the federal government. This person, for obvious reasons, wishes to remain anonymous, but it seems clear that she works at the SSA. Her warning about what’s happening there is chilling.

Then she shared this image:

She continues:

This person goes on to list things she’s seeing happening that aren’t getting out to the public. Her final conclusion is that we are going to start seeing interruptions to Social Security service imminently if we don’t stop what’s happening. This is being corroborated by former Commissioner Martin O’Malley, who is now saying “Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits. I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days.”

Then, tonight, she sent out an urgent video, They’re really coming for social security, in which she goes into greater detail and shares this script for us to use when calling our representatives, either directly or at 202-224-3121:

Hi, I’m a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.

I am deeply alarmed about DOGE’s plan to gut social security by hollowing out its staff and shuttering offices. It’s horrifying. I’ve heard that the entire Office of Transformation has already been dissolved, as well as the entire Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity. 7,000 people have already been fired across the agency and they’re coming for many more. These attacks on Social Security are outrageous. I wholly oppose them. If I or someone I love loses my Social Security or has services interrupted because of these staffing cuts I will be furious. Stop Musk now. Get him out of our government. He’s destroying it. Thanks.

You don’t have to say all that, but we do need to communicate our outrage and do everything we can to prevent it. We’ve seen enough to know that they are willing to wreck anything and everything. We’ve also seen that they frequently cave when they get enough pushback. I just hope they haven’t already hollowed out the SSA so much that it is already past the point of no return.