Will Trump鈥檚 push to cut waste hit Social Security? The view from Georgia.
-
Patrik Jonsson Staff writer
| Columbus, Ga.
As the Trump administration vows to cut fraud and waste in the Social Security system, Teresa Casey, a Trump voter, says she is finding out what that means for beneficiaries like her.
The former convenience store clerk is now on disability, administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). But a few months ago, the checks stopped coming.
鈥淪omeone made a huge mistake,鈥� she says.
Why We Wrote This
Many Americans say government needs to become more efficient. Will feelings shift when the streamlining affects programs they rely on? Administrative changes to Social Security are bringing this question to the fore.
So when she stopped by the low-slung SSA building on the outskirts of Columbus, Georgia, last week to clear it up, her life balance seemed at stake. Ms. Casey is one of a growing number caught in the middle of America鈥檚 national debate over current federal efforts to streamline government 鈥� and whether gains in efficiency might come at a cost to people like Ms. Casey who rely on federal services.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 about politics now,鈥� says Ms. Casey, who voted for Mr. Trump last November. 鈥淭his is my life.鈥�
Come September, this SSA office lease will be terminated, one of 26 planned Social Security office closings across the United States this year, according to The Associated Press. This coincides with new efforts to combat fraud at the agency, which will force people to come in person or use an online portal to verify their identity, rather than being able to call in.
Walk-ins at the Columbus office were banned as early as Jan. 1, before Mr. Trump took office. But the new cuts are expected to add pressure on an agency already struggling to keep to its mission of handling monthly payments to 74 million Americans and issuing Social Security numbers for the 10,000 born every day.
The cuts are likely to affect people like Ms. Casey in particular. While Social Security retirement benefits are largely automated, disability recipients must frequently reapply for benefits. Last week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that about a missed check.
鈥淚f you think she is cheating, come spend some time at her house,鈥� says James Knox, Ms. Casey鈥檚 ex-husband, who took time off his job at an art supply plant to drive his former wife to the office. Severe health challenges have left her unable to drive or work, he adds.
Ms. Casey says she had never voted until Donald Trump ran for office. She voted for him three times. Now, she says, that loyalty is being tested by a sense that her life is tied to the administration鈥檚 actions.
Trying to tame the national debt
The Trump administration鈥檚 effort to curb the Social Security Administration and its activities is part of a broader reshaping of government, with one stated goal being to tame the rising national debt, currently at over $36 trillion. The idea of reducing government waste is generally supported by Americans, of the federal government and its workers have waned in recent years.
No matter the veracity of the Trump administration鈥檚 fraud allegations, changes in how Social Security recipients are served could challenge those views on what the government should and can do.
鈥淚鈥檓 afraid a lot of people are about to find out all the ways that they鈥檝e taken the federal government for granted,鈥� says Jacob Malcom, who resigned his Washington position as the U.S. Department of Interior鈥檚 deputy assistant secretary for policy and environmental management in protest of the cuts made by the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 鈥淭hat includes anyone who relies on Social Security.鈥�
The cancellation of a 1,600-square-foot lease here in Columbus 鈥� home to Fort Benning, blues singer Ma Rainey, and Coca-Cola鈥檚 inventor 鈥� is just one part of broader federal closings and worker reductions across the country.
Closing doors and increased criticism of civil servants
While both Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton took on government waste, Americans have grown increasingly critical of civil servants. Sixty-one percent of Americans in 2018 had a 鈥済reat deal鈥� or 鈥渇air amount鈥� of confidence in career civil servants. Toward the end of the pandemic, a 2022 poll showed that those feeling that confidence had to 52%, according to the Pew Research Center.
Mitchell Scacchi of the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation suggests in that low-level bureaucrats are now seen as an 鈥渦nconstitutional fourth branch of government鈥� whose in-house judgments cost Americans hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity each year.
鈥淭his administration is committed to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse,鈥� White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a recent briefing. (Critics say the Trump administration is exaggerating how much Social Security fraud exists, which government auditors have found to be about .)
The Trump administration has repeatedly stated that legal recipients of Social Security services and benefits have nothing to worry about. But, as Ms. Casey attests, stark cuts 鈥� including a proposed 10% chunk of the SSA鈥檚 workforce 鈥� have a different feel than chopping funding to agencies like the U.S. Institute of Peace.
According to research by the National Institute on Retirement Security, almost 9 in 10 Americans say that Social Security 鈥測鈥� for the nation regardless of budget deficits.
When demand outpaces supply
But the agency has already lost some of its ability to do the work. Between 2010 and 2023, it lost 17% of its customer service budget, while the number of beneficiaries rose by 22%, according to Pamela Herd, a social policy professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
鈥淪ocial Security is a clear promise to Americans that if they pay into the system, they will get benefits from that system,鈥� says Professor Herd. 鈥淎t this pace, I don鈥檛 know how they can fulfill that promise.鈥�
DOGE鈥檚 fast-moving effort is likely contributing to problems like the kind reported by Ms. Casey, she says.
鈥淵es, we need to improve, change, evolve, but that doesn鈥檛 change the basic fact that we can鈥檛 have a functioning government if we don鈥檛 have a civil service,鈥� says Dr. Malcom, the former Interior official. 鈥淏ut if what you want is to accelerate the decline of the U.S. government, then this is a fantastic way to do it.鈥�
Back in Columbus, retired businessman Jerry Don Manning arrived at the SSA office in a truck with a license plate that read 鈥淭EX MAN.鈥�
Mr. Manning says he is 鈥�100% supportive鈥� of President Trump鈥檚 efforts to root out fraud and reduce the debt. He believes that 鈥渢hey鈥檙e smart enough to make the right cuts鈥� to a federal workforce that has become incompetent and inefficient, particularly after the pandemic.
At the same time, older and disabled Americans who don鈥檛 have cars and aren鈥檛 comfortable using the internet may be in for some dramatic changes.
鈥淚 think we鈥檒l feel a little bit of pain now but a lot of gain down the road,鈥� he says.
Could the cuts to Social Security become a bigger problem if he applies for benefits?
He ponders the question and the implied risks.
鈥淚n my view,鈥� he says, 鈥渢hat is a possibility 鈥� but not a probability.鈥� He is willing to take that risk.
