The Social Security Administration may drastically cut back the phone service relied on by 73 million retired and disabled Americans under pressure from Elon Musk's team in the U.S. DOGE Service.
The agency's leadership is considering a proposal to end telephone service for processing claims and direct-deposit bank transactions and instead direct elderly and disabled people to go online or visit in-person field offices to apply for and access their earned government benefits, according to two sources briefed on the discussions and records obtained by The Washington Post.
"The proposed change comes less than a month after members of the DOGE team arrived at the agency and began looking for ways to cut what they labeled 'fraud, waste and abuse' as part of their mandate from President Donald Trump to slim down government, the people said," the Post reported. "DOGE, which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency, has sought to slash staff and spending across all federal agencies, stirring chaos and criticism that the team is cutting essential functions."
Current and former officials warned the recommended change would disrupt the agency's internal operations and its ability to serve the public, and they noted that Social Security's toll-free number was a lifeline for older Americans who lack internet access or have trouble navigating the web.
DOGE staffers were initially focused on concerns that dead people were receiving fraudulent benefits, according to two sources and records obtained by the newspaper, but they dropped the matter after career staffers explained that the antiquated technology system used by the agency made it appear as if impossibly old people were still on the rolls, and now they're moving on to alleged phone fraud.
"The move to end telephone service for claims and direct-deposit actions at Social Security is not yet finalized, the two people cautioned, and no one knows precisely how or when the change would roll out," the Post reported. "At a tense meeting Tuesday, DOGE staff grilled SSA officials about phone fraud. But as employees suggested potential solutions, DOGE reps 'weren’t interested in anything else but defending the decision that they had already made,' one of the people said."
A person briefed on the team's activities said DOGE staffers were concerned about callers impersonating older Americans to steal their benefits and cheating in Social Security's disability program, but career employees told the Post that online and phone-based identity fraud accounted for only a tiny fraction of the program's cost, and they questioned how the agency would continue to serve the public without phone service.
“It would certainly appear that they’re trying to break the capacity of the agency to serve its customers,” said Martin O’Malley, who led the agency under Joe Biden, “and I suppose, if they’re trying to dismember the agency, liquidate its assets, sell pieces of it to their billionaire friends to run, they have to discredit the agency in the eyes of its customers, and they do that by breaking its ability to serve.”
