Former Maryland Governor and former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley warned that the Trump-Musk administration’s sweeping cuts to the Social Security Administration’s workforce will lead to major disruptions in benefits for millions of Americans. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has ordered a 50% reduction in Social Security’s workforce. The agency, already at its lowest staffing levels in 50 years, announced that it will soon implement large-scale layoffs. “These cuts will inflict a lot of pain on seniors and people with disabilities,” O’Malley said in a news conference on Friday. “Social Security is being driven to a total system collapse.”
He said five of SSA’s eight regional commissioners have resigned following the push for deeper reductions. Responding to a question from BlackPressUSA, O’Malley said it’s up to Congress to stop the bleeding. He said, despite handling a record number of beneficiaries, Social Security operates with just 1.2% overhead, far below private insurers like Liberty Mutual, which operates at 23%. O’Malley said productivity had improved by 6% year over year, but the restructuring will erase that progress. “The Republican House has already reduced staffing at Social Security to a 50-year low. Now co-Presidents Musk and Trump want to cut customer service in half,” he said. O’Malley called the administration’s decision to offer full-year salary buyouts to retirement-eligible employees and $25,000 bonuses to others the biggest waste of Social Security dollars in U.S. history. “The actions being taken by the Trump-Musk administration to gut customer service and drive employees out of this greatly understaffed agency will break Social Security as we have known it for 90 years,” he said.
He also raised concerns about data security, noting that sharing Social Security information is a fireable offense. While Trump has said Social Security “won’t be touched,” Musk has defended the cuts by claiming they are necessary to stop “extreme levels of fraud.” However, Musk has not provided proof for this claim.
Rich Couture, spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees SSA General Committee, said any layoffs will hurt the public and undermine Social Security. “Seniors and people on disability should start putting away what money they can now,” O’Malley said. “Benefit check interruptions are coming soon.”