Elon Musk’s D.O.G.E will cancel social security benefits

The Social Security Administration has never skipped a check since it first started paying out monthly benefits over 80 years ago. That record might be about to break.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) is making changes that could stop benefits for 72.5 million Americans in the next 30 to 90 days, according to Martin O’Malley, the former Social Security commissioner.

“Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits,” O’Malley told CNBC. He warned that people should start saving now because the disruption is coming fast. He blames D.O.G.E. for making staff cuts and pushing changes to the agency’s technology, which he says will cause IT system failures. So far, neither the Social Security Administration nor the White House has said a word about what’s happening.

D.O.G.E. is slashing leadership and staff

D.O.G.E. is not a real government department. It was created by Donald Trump and given to Elon Musk to cut government spending. Since then, it’s been gutting federal agencies, and Social Security is one of its biggest targets.

First, leadership fell apart. Michelle King, the acting commissioner, resigned after clashing with D.O.G.E. over access to sensitive Social Security data. Before her, O’Malley quit in November to run for chairman of the Democratic National Committee—which he lost to Ken Martin. Now, Frank Bisignano, the CEO of Fiserv, is supposed to take over Social Security, but he hasn’t even had a Senate confirmation hearing yet.

While waiting, the agency appointed Lee Dudek as acting commissioner. Dudek lasted barely a month before he got put on administrative leave for working too closely with D.O.G.E. He had written a post on LinkedIn saying his priority was to make sure payments went out on time, but now he’s out of the picture.

Meanwhile, the agency is pushing employees out the door. On February 19, the Social Security Administration told workers they have until March 14 to take an early buyout. This time, it’s not just upper management—even service employees, the ones who process claims and answer customer calls, are being offered cash to leave.

Who will lose benefits first?

Not all Social Security recipients will feel the impact at the same time. Jill Hornick, a union leader at the American Federation of Government Employees, says people already getting benefits may not see immediate cuts since their payments are mostly automated. But new applicants? They’re in trouble.

Hornick says if someone applies for retirement or disability benefits, their claims could take months to process—because there won’t be enough employees left to handle them. People filing for survivor benefits might be forced to wait too, even if they submit the right documents.

“Not everybody can do things electronically,” says Maria Freese, a senior legislative representative at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. A lot of seniors still rely on in-person help, but D.O.G.E.’s cuts could mean longer waits or denied benefits just because there’s no one left to process claims.

While Social Security falls apart, D.O.G.E. is hitting other agencies too. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is also being gutted, with plans to fire almost all of its 1,700 employees.

CFPB is being wiped out by D.O.G.E.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created after the 2008 financial crisis, is being dismantled. Employees say they’ve been told the agency will be gone within 90 days.

“My team was directed to assist with terminating the vast majority of CFPB employees as quickly as possible,” an employee using the pseudonym Alex Doe said in testimony released Thursday.

The layoffs are happening in three phases:

1. First, probationary and term employees will be fired.
2. Then, 1,200 more employees will be cut.
3. Finally, the agency will be reduced to almost nothing—a handful of people left before the final shutdown.

Meanwhile, big banks are getting off easy. The CFPB had ongoing cases against major financial firms like Capital One, but D.O.G.E. dismissed at least four of them on Thursday, despite billions of dollars in consumer harm.

For now, a federal judge has put the shutdown on hold until March 3, thanks to a case filed by the CFPB’s union. But that delay might not last long. If D.O.G.E. gets its way, the CFPB will disappear, and Social Security will follow right behind it.

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