Social Security advocates are ringing alarm bells about Elon Musk and DOGE

Yahoo

25-02-2025

As billionaire Trump advisor Elon Musk continues to fire staff, cancel contracts, and eliminate office leases across the federal government, retirees, Social Security advocates, and Democratic politicians are fretting about what could happen to the agency that delivers cash benefits to some 73 million Americans each month—one charged with paying out $1.5 trillion in benefits annually, or over 20% of the federal government's total budget.
In a lawsuit filed late last week, a coalition of unions and retirees sued the Social Security Administration (SSA) to halt what they call an "unprecedented, unlawful seizure of personal, confidential, private and sensitive data" by the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The coalition, led by the nonprofit Alliance for Retired Americans and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is just one set of advocates ringing alarm bells about the billionaire's access to Americans' financial and medical data and personal addresses that are housed in SSA databases.
"Social Security is a sacred trust between the American people and the government," Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said in a press release. "We cannot risk the catastrophic consequences should this very personal data fall into the wrong hands."
The agency is "the central hub for Americans' most sensitive personal and financial information," say a group of Democratic senators who are also worried about DOGE's actions. The data contained in Social Security profiles includes:
Social Security Numbers
Bank and credit card information
Birth and marriage certificates
Pension information
Home and work addresses
School records
Citizenship status
Immigration or naturalization records
IRS earnings records
Health care providers' contact information
Family court records
Employment and employer records
Psychological or psychiatric health records
Hospitalization records and addiction treatment records
Test for or records of HIV/AIDS
That data could have "significant commercial value," the senators wrote in a letter to DOGE-appointed Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek, and there are many privacy laws in place to protect it that DOGE does not appear to be following.
"There is a profound risk of causing irreparable harm to the agency's systems and Americans' financial security," stated Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Tammy Baldwin( D-Wis.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Fiesta notes that if that sensitive information were to be compromised, it could lead to untold troubles for all Americans whose data is stored by SSA. In the wrong hands, scammers could use it to claim someone else's tax refund, Social Security benefits, and so on. He says members around the country have been contacting his organization to express their discontent with the situation.
"It's a large agency that all Americans rely on and have paid for the operation and benefits of from their first paycheck onwards," says Fiesta. "There's a lot of concern and heightened anxiety of the preservation and security of personal data."
SSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the aftermath of the initial uproar last week, Dudek recently released a statement saying that DOGE will not disrupt how the SSA works, and that if DOGE personnel violate the law, "they will be referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution."
"Our continuing priority is paying beneficiaries the right amount at the right time, and providing other critical services people rely on from us," he said. "DOGE personnel CANNOT make changes to agency systems, benefit payments, or other information. They only have READ access."
Advocates are worried about potential changes to benefit payments because 37.3% of older adults would have incomes below the poverty level without their monthly Social Security checks, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. All together, 22.0 million adults and children would fall below the poverty line without Social Security. Any disruption in benefits could be detrimental, says Fiesta.
Despite President Donald Trump's assurances that Social Security "won't be touched" by Musk and DOGE, advocates worry that the cost-slashing measures could harm the tens of millions of retirees and others who rely on the benefits to get by. Already, Musk has come under fire for falsely implying that millions of dead Americans are receiving benefits, an easily-disproven claim which the president has repeated. Meanwhile, Acting Commissioner Michelle King was replaced after reportedly refusing to provide Musk and DOGE access to the agency's data without proper documentation.
Now embedded in the agency, the DOGE efforts have also led to the elimination of dozens of jobs and the scheduled closure of at least 10 local SSA offices. These closures, advocates say, could prevent some of the neediest people in the country from accessing their benefits; many people go to the offices to receive in-person help navigating the often complex system. That includes retirees, but also disabled adults and surviving spouses and children.
One of the offices scheduled to be closed, for example, is a hearing office located in White Plains, New York, in the lower Hudson Valley. Hearing offices allow those who were denied eligibility for Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to appeal their case, and many end up receiving benefits. According to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., that office is the only one that services seven counties in the region, and has approximately 2,000 cases pending. If it is closed down, Gillibrand says, beneficiaries will need to travel between 24 and 135 miles to receive service—made all the more difficult by the fact that many are elderly or disabled.
Fiesta points out that SSA has already been understaffed for decades, with the long wait times for even basic services to prove it. This is the exact wrong time, he says, to further cut staff and resources.
"We have more beneficiaries and applicants than ever before because we are at the height of the baby boom entering their mid 60s, and we have the lowest staff levels in a generation," Fiesta says. "They are coming in and making it less efficient as more people come in and rely on the system."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, after repeating the false assertion that millions of dead people are receiving benefits, said last week that "fake news reporters" are "fearmongering" about Social Security, and that DOGE is focused on eliminating fraud and waste in the program.
More than 73 million people received Social Security or SSI payments in January, including 54.5 million retirees. Fiesta is encouraging retirees and other beneficiaries to be proactive about checking their payments each month going forward, as well as credit reports.
"We're telling our members to check every month that it's there and it's the right amount, just to make sure," he says. "Be vigilant."
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com