WASHINGTON — The former head of the Social Security Administration is warning Americans of possible benefit interruptions following newly announced cuts at the agency.
“People should start saving now,” said former SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley in an interview with CNBC.
O’Malley’s comments come in response to planned cuts taking place at the SSA. Last week, the agency issued a press release saying it aims to cut the workforce from approximately 57,000 employees to 50,000.
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“The agency plans to reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure, with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services,” reads a portion of a press release from the SSA confirming cuts are coming.
However, the Associated Press reported the number of cuts could be as high as 50% of employees. The SSA has denied that half the workforce could be cut.
Regardless, O’Malley — who served as the SSA Commissioner from 2023 to 2024 — says cutting that much staff will result in major problems. According to O’Malley, the agency is already understaffed and operates on old technology.
“This is going to lead to total system collapse,” O’Malley told The Baltimore Sun. “It’s a very old, fragile computer system in (COBOL) language, which isn’t even in schools anymore.”
In a social media post made Friday, O’Malley went on to say he expects benefit interruptions to start soon.
“Seniors and people on disabilities should start putting away what money they can now,” O’Malley wrote. “The actions being taken by the Trump/Musk Administration to gut customer service and drive employees out of this greatly under-staffed agency will break Social Security as we have known it for 90 years. Benefit check interruptions coming soon.”
An estimated 72.5 million people in the U.S. receive Social Security benefits.
The cuts to SSA are coming as part of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) agenda. That agency has been tasked with reducing government spending and the overall size of the government. Since Trump established DOGE in January through executive order, the agency has made significant cuts to numerous other government agencies.
The cuts have been made through the cancelling of grants, contracts, leases and workforce reductions.
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The SSA says some employees will be offered a chance to voluntarily retire or resign through a pair of programs. Others will be eligible to receive Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments. Those offers will require the employee to separate from the agency by a specific date.
Other workforce cuts will be made “from reduction-in-force (RIF) actions that could include abolishment of organizations and positions. RIF also can include directed reassignments from one position to another position in the agency,” the SSA said.