The Social Security Administration was considering scrapping its phone services for the elderly under pressure from the Department of Government Efficiency. The Elon Musk-led DOGE aimed to minimize purported fraud, waste, and abuse of government resources. However, the agency had to back away from its plan after it received severe backlash from the public as well as the media houses. If you want to know more about the latest updates, this article is for you. It brings you everything you need to know about Elon Musk’s DOGE backing off from its plans to scrap off Social Security Phone Services.
Elon Musk’s DOGE Backs Off Plan to Scrap Social Security Phone Services: What Exactly Happened?
The Social Security Administration was considering a proposal of scraping off telephone support. This simply meant millions of Americans losing access to benefits who rely on phone services. However, DOGE backed off when the agency received severe backlash and had to step back. Instead of the phone service, the administration is now planning to cancel only bank changes through phone services directing the clients, both elderly as well as disabled to online or in-person services.
The agency reported SSA is just ensuring bank accounts aren’t changed without authentication. It cited how 40% of SSA frauds happen when fraudsters call the agency through the phone service and change bank accounts. It also stated how banks follow similar processes of changing bank accounts. The rest of the phone services remain the same.
How The Phone Services Cancellation Would Have Affected The Americans?
The reports related to DOGE pushing SSA to cancel its phone services came right after its demand to slash SSA’s workforce. DOGE also asked SSA to reduce its staff by at least 12%. According to the critics, this would severely affect the functioning of the administration. The toll-free number of SSA is an important resource for the elderly. In case DOGE had canceled phone services, around 73 million Americans who rely on telephone services for various reasons would have suffered.
Steep Spending Cuts To Pay For The Tax Cuts
The Republicans have proposed steep spending cuts to pay for the $4.5 trillion tax cuts. The newly elected President Donald Trump championed the House GOP’s proposal as well. He also promised not to make any cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. However, the Congressional Budget Office argued the Republicans will not be able to achieve their targets without a cut in the medicare millions of Americans rely on.
On the other hand, Musk suggested a need to slash around $500 billion to $700 billion in government waste. This only amplified the claims regarding social security. He also repeated his false claim that around 20 million dead people still receiving social security benefits. The SSA commissioner already debunked that claim.
What People Are Saying About DOGE’s Plan Of Cancelling Phone Services?
Trump made a statement at a February press briefing in Florida about millions of people over 100 years of age receiving the benefits. He claimed these are fraudulent and incompetent. In case these people are removed from the beneficiary list, the administration will have a very powerful group of social security with 80-90 years old. Paul Barrett is working at New York University as the deputy director of the Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. He mentioned in his statement that this decision is part of Trump’s gameplay of wrecking institutions to dominate them.
What Happens Now After DOGE Backed Off?
Now that DOGE has backed off from canceling all the phone services of SSA, a narrower version of the plan will get into effect this month. Those who wish to change their bank accounts will now have only two options – Online Services and In-person field office visits. The spokesperson from SSA mentioned the agency is analyzing potential threats to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse of trust funds.
