Millions of retirees depend on the nation’s Social Security program to help finance their golden years. But a new presidential administration is bringing sweeping changes to Washington, D.C., and that includes the Social Security Administration.
Since President Donald Trump took office in late January, he and his new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have made several changes to the Social Security Administration’s leaders, operations and structure.
Here are the key aspects of the SSA that the Trump administration has overhauled thus far. We’ll start at the beginning and work our way up to the millions of dollars in projected savings and the thousands of job losses.
New commissioners
The highest office in the Social Security Administration has been vacated a few times in recent months.
In late November, SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley stepped down to run for chair of the Democratic National Committee, and President Joe Biden named Carolyn Colvin the acting commissioner. When Biden’s time in office ended, though, so did Colvin’s time running the SSA.
So, once Trump was inaugurated, he chose Michelle King to head the SSA. Less than one month later, King stepped down. Her departure followed her refusal to give DOGE staff members access to Social Security recipient information, according to media reports.
Frank Bisignano will be the SSA’s next commissioner if the Senate confirms his appointment. In the meantime, Trump has named Lee Dudek acting commissioner.
In a Feb. 19 statement, Dudek said the following about the DOGE employees who are now working at the SSA:
- “Our continuing priority is paying beneficiaries the right amount at the right time, and providing other critical services people rely on from us.
- DOGE personnel CANNOT make changes to agency systems, benefit payments, or other information. They only have READ access.
- DOGE personnel do not have access to data related to a court ordered temporary restraining order, current or future.
- DOGE personnel must follow the law and if they violate the law they will be referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution.”
No more cooperative research agreements
The Social Security Administration recently ended its cooperative agreements with the Retirement and Disability Research Consortium (RDRC) following Trump’s executive order titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.”
In a Feb. 21 announcement, Dudek said:
“Terminating our RDRC cooperative agreements aligns with President Trump’s priorities to end fraudulent and wasteful initiatives and contracts. We will continue to root out waste and abuse to earn back America’s trust and confidence in our agency.”
The Retirement and Disability Research Consortium is part of the nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research but was funded in cooperation with the SSA. According to the bureau, the consortium’s purpose is to improve “SSA’s capacity to undertake necessary research, evaluation, and policy development” and provide “Social Security, disability, and retirement policy information” to policymakers, the public and the media.
In the announcement, the SSA notes that it previously entered into cooperative agreements with research centers “that included a focus on research addressing DEI in Social Security, retirement, and disability policy.” The SSA estimates that ending those agreements will save the government $15 million in 2025.
A ‘realignment’ for the OARO
The Social Security Administration recently announced an “organizational realignment” of functions that were previously provided by its Office of Analytics, Review, and Oversight (OARO).
The office’s functions, according to the SSA website, have included:
- “reviewing program quality and effectiveness;
- making recommendations for program improvement using feedback from the adjudication of cases, predictive modeling, and advanced data analysis;
- coordinating the agency’s detection and prevention of fraud; and
- responding to recommendations of external monitoring authorities.”
According to a Feb. 21 SSA announcement, the goal of the OARO “realignment” is to streamline management, increase data sharing, and speed up the process of identifying and addressing fraud, waste and abuse.
“These improvements will build on recommendations that DOGE team members provide the agency and help to improve how Social Security serves America,” the announcement continued.
No more Office of Transformation
According to the SSA website, its Office of Transformation was “directly responsible for strategic guidance and oversight of enterprise-wide initiatives, addressing policies, business processes, and systems.”
But as of Feb. 24, this office has shut down. In an announcement, Dudek said:
“This redundant office was created under the previous administration and we are righting that wrong.”
No more Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity
On Feb. 25, the SSA’s Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity closed its doors and staffers were put on administrative leave.
Its role was to “provide national direction on the agency’s equal opportunity (EEO) and civil rights programs,” according to the SSA website.
An announcement issued the day of the closure described the office as “duplicative,” though it did not explain further.
Dudek said in the release:
“Our focus is supporting President Trump’s priorities, which include streamlining functions and prioritizing essential work. Terminating the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, and reassigning statutory responsibilities performed by this office, advances the President’s goal to make all of government more efficient in serving the American public.”
“Statutory responsibilities” refers to those that the Social Security Administration is required to perform by federal laws like the Social Security Act, which entitles eligible beneficiaries to a monthly benefits payment.
The statutory responsibilities of the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity are being moved to other divisions of the SSA, Dudek said. They include “complaints, reasonable accommodation requests and other statutorily required functions.”
Thousands of job cuts
At the end of February, the Social Security Administration announced what it described as “significant workforce reductions” as part of “massive reorganizations” within the agency.
The SSA has set a staffing target of 50,000 workers, down from the current level of about 57,000 employees, adding that “[r]umor of a 50 percent reduction is false.”
The agency said layoffs are most likely in “offices that perform functions not mandated by statute,” with a focus on “employees who do not directly provide mission critical services.”
Some employees may be reassigned rather than laid off. Those who don’t want to be reassigned can elect to resign or retire.
All employees who meet eligibility criteria were being offered voluntary early retirement.
Voluntary separation incentive payments also are available to eligible employees who opt to leave by noon on March 14, the SSA said. These payments range from $15,000 to $25,000 but are available first come, first served.
Hundreds of millions in savings
The Social Security Administration has identified more than $800 million in either cost savings or cost avoidance for fiscal year 2025 — which runs from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025 — according to a March 3 announcement.
These savings mostly would come from the areas of payroll, information technology, office space, and contracts and grants. The agency also says it has found cuts it could make by implementing “common-sense approaches” to printing, travel and purchase-card policies.
For example, in payroll, freezing hiring for Disability Determination Services and “drastically” reducing overtime is expected cut $550 million in costs. In information technology, canceling non-essential contracts and otherwise reducing contracts is expected to result in $150 million in savings.
“For too long, SSA has operated on autopilot,” Dudek said. “We have spent billions annually doing the same things the same way, leading to bureaucratic stagnation, inefficiency, and a lack of meaningful service improvements. It is time to change just that.”
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