The GOP Plan to Eviscerate Social Security

Yes, there's a written plan. And I added Action Items.

You knew the decimation of Social Security was in their plan, as it was buried in Project 2025, but you might not have known that there was a step-by-step plan, courtesy of Acting Deputy SSA Commissioner Doris Diaz. Source is the great guy who got eyes on the memo.

The first part of the plan was to do away with the ability of the Social Security Administration to accept phone calls. Thanks directly to the Washington Post getting out the information, this didn’t happen. Link. But there are still problems.

Why does that matter? It might not matter to you, because you obviously have internet access. Not everyone does. And some people who could have access within their home, have the sorts of disabilities that preclude their use of the internet.

Had the cretins gone with this dastardly plan, it would have meant that if one could not use the internet, they would have to go a Social Security field office since they wouldn’t take phone calls. The problem? For some people, their office is more than 100 miles from their home. And if you are, say, in a wheelchair, with IVs and oxygen, that’s a heavy lift. Not to mention the wait for an appointment, even before the cuts I’m about to tell you about, is at least a month. Used to be Social Security offices took walk-ins, but no more.

Now the only restriction on phone calls will be that someone cannot change direct deposit information over the phone. The DOGE boys contend this is a source of fraud. If a recipient wants to change a direct deposit bank, they will need to either use the internet or go to an office. The most common reason for changing a direct deposit account is due to bank mergers. Meaning people need a quick turnaround to avoid missing payments. Tough if you have no internet and need to wait months for an appointment. Remember, cruelty is a feature, not a bug. (I can’t say that often enough.)

And so, the miscreants needed another plan to make Social Security implode. Thus, the new memo. Here is what the memo says could happen:

Call me an idiot, but if a risk is that there will be higher demand for resources, staff and system updates, I would think the Social Security Administration would hire more people.

Nope.

Leland Dudek, acting Commissioner, recently announced further cuts of 7,000 employees, or about 12 percent of the agency. Plus, they are closing, or have closed already, 47 offices nationwide. List. And remember, a lot of those RIFFED workers ANSWERED PHONE CALLS!!!!! (Sorry for yelling.)

Yes, you read that right - more and more people will be applying for Social Security benefits as the Baby Boomers hit “peak 65” meaning that the last contingent is turning 65, with an average of 11,200 turning 65 every day through 2027. That’s a lot of claims to be processed. And there will be fewer employees and resources to undertake that work.

You may be wondering WHY they’re doing this. Simple. In 2025, Social Security is forecast to pay out $1.6 Trillion (with a “T”). Breakdown and fact sheet. It’s also about 22% of the Federal budget. The billionaire class wants that money for themselves. You might rightly believe that Social Security monies are in a separate area, and can only be used to pay benefits, but these people intend to steal it.

Remember Willie Sutton, bank robber? When asked why he robbed banks, he said:

Because that’s where the money is.

Same idea.

Remember, they want to expand the 2017 tax cuts, and “improve” them for the rich, and make everyone else pay more. But to find enough money, they need to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and as much of the rest of the safety net as they can.

By setting the Social Security Administration up to fail, they are pretty sure that people will lose faith in the Social Security system. Face it, if you are going to try to apply for benefits as a new retiree, and you need to travel 100 miles to an office, and then, if you lack some piece of paper or other, have to make the trip again, and there are a couple months between the appointments, you might just give up¹.

The “loss of faith” routine is less for current recipients, and those applying for benefits in the near term. Rather, it is being employed so that younger people make the assumption that Social Security will not be there for them, and therefore will not care if it goes away. They won’t contact their elected reps, nor will they vote for people who want to salvage and rebuild the system. It’s subtle, but that IS one of their goals.

Another thing that they’re doing relates to saving monies currently being paid to recipients. Sometimes, recipients receive more money than they should be paid. Most commonly, this relates to disabled people and not retirees. Also, this is normally something that’s the Social Security Administration’s fault. For example, a disabled person is limited in how much income can be received in a month before their disbursement is downgraded. It can take a while for Social Security to process that change, generating an overpayment.

Until last year, up to 100% could be clawed back, meaning, if you owed $10,000 and you received $2,000/month, five months would be withheld. President Biden changed that to 10%, with bipartisan support, meaning at most $200 of your $2,000 could be withheld. BIG DIFFERENCE. They’re going back to the 100% claw back, and this time, not a peep from anyone in the GOP, even Rick Scott (FL - largest healthcare fraudster) who railed against the 100% claw back and fought for the 10% change.

Action Items

Make sure that everyone you know who is on Social Security or will be filing a claim in the near term knows about this. Especially MAGA types who are going to file soon. The more people who know, the more hue and cry there will be.

Also tell the young people you know about this scam. Explain that there are paired bills in the House and Senate that would SAVE Social Security and make it completely solvent for at least the next 75 years. It’s called the Social Security Expansion Act. Here’s a fact sheet.

Write your Senator and House member. While they can’t necessarily do anything NOW, you want to keep it on their radar because negotiations are about to start for the Fiscal 2026 budget. You also want them to sign as co-sponsors to the Social Security Expansion Act. There are 9 co-sponsors in the Senate and 24 in the House, in addition to the two sponsors in each chamber.

Finally, I’m not a lawyer, but I believe there are several ways to bring class action suits. I can’t participate since I neither receive Social Security, nor plan to apply in the near term. But to have standing, the class would be of those two types of people. Perhaps you could be a member of the class.

First suit:

The Fourth Amendment starts with:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures

While it is normally meant to relate to going into people’s homes, I would consider that “effects” include monies. And clawing back 100% could be considered a seizure.

Second suit:

Leverage the Administrative Procedures Act (full text) which requires that administrative changes are FAIR, and there’s a case for these changes being outside of what any reasonable person would see as “fair”.

Again, I’m not a lawyer, but I know some of you are - so let me know if either of these suits would work. Perhaps they wouldn’t pass muster at SCOTUS, but I’m betting that they’d make it through a few early court battles.

1. I hope no one gives up, and instead gets their Senator or Member of Congress’s office to intervene on their behalf. No matter how they vote, “constituent services” are part of their job. It’s even a separate area on the “Contact Me” page of EVERY ONE of their websites.