Social Security Administration staffer:
DOGE [is] not there “to solve problems or improve service”

Former Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Martin O’Malley and other SSA employees recently warned Rolling Stone that the drastic cuts to the agency pushed by Elon Musk’s DOGE committee soon “will result in widespread failures, including checks not being distributed to some of the 73 million Americans who receive Social Security benefits.”

To date, the most public impact of DOGE slashing Social Security has been the recently-announced closing of 10 Social Security offices — five of them in Georgia - that provide customer service for the program’s beneficiaries. Recent reporting from CNN indicates that that was just the tip of the iceberg, with the DOGE website listing lease terminations for nearly fifty more agency sites. 

Lee Dudek, Trump’s interim Social Security Administrator, is planning to cut about 7,000 jobs, roughly 12% of its workforce, despite the agency’s staffing being at a 50-year low and new benefit applications skyrocketing as Baby Boomers reach retirement age.

Yesterday, President Trump told Fox Business News’ Maria Bartiromo, “I’m not going to touch Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.” Speaker Mike Johnson said the same thing even after passing a budget blueprint that is certain to do so. According to at least one Republican Congressman quoted by O’Malley, at least some in the GOP are “acutely aware” of the pitfalls the party would face if the SSA failed or benefits stopped going to Americans. “They have no idea the public blowback they’re about to get,” said that Republican Congressman.

The National Republican Campaign Committee, fearful of negative public feedback about their agenda, implemented a “McCormick Rule” prohibiting their incumbents from holding town hall events after Georgia Congressman Rich McCormick’s disastrous town hall performance on February 20, 2025. At that event, McCormick received a hostile reception from constituents upset about mass firings of federal workers and Republican plans to drastically cut programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

“Not only is it wrong to destroy Social Security, Republicans explicitly ran on not touching these programs millions of Americans rely on,” said DPG spokesperson Ellie Schwartz. “But, I get the strategy of ducking your constituents after so dramatically breaking a promise not to touch Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.”