Social Security: Why Should I Worry?

Laurie Force, a CCD member who has participated in recent demonstrations for Social Security, created the informative and extremely pertinent handout below for our members to share with passersby.

• Federal buildings and Social Security offices are on the chopping block. 
• DOGE plans to cut thousands of jobs at the Social Security Administration: estimates by SSA Leadership is 7,000-50,000 staff will be cut. 
• Changes proposed by the Trump administration would require many beneficiaries to prove their identity in-person when seeking services, by eliminating enrollment over the phone. If you don’t have internet capability, you will be required to come to an understaffed office, which may be far from your community.
• While some of the proposed changes have been walked back, you should consider this temporary. 
• DOGE claims of rampant fraud are blatantly false. Less than 1% of Social Security payments have been found to be improper, and scrutiny has been intense prior to the current administration. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/24/social-security-fraud-doge-cuts-dead/ 
• Massive cutbacks create a self-fulfilling prophecy: Eliminating necessary staff and infrastructure will lead to less fraud detection, and make it more difficult for legitimate recipients to access their benefits. 
• Ned Johnson of Seattle was mistakenly declared dead and his Social Security Benefits canceled. A harbinger of things to come? 
  https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-falsely-declared-dead-social-security-dealing-fallout/story?id=120135649 
• Could you be the next Ned? Yesterday at our rally, I met a woman who was coming to our local Social Security office to find out why her Social Security check had been withheld. I wished her luck.

—Laurie Force
Member, Clallam County Democrats
March 28, 2025

​To take action, visit https://socialsecurityworks.org/ and watch our Facebook and Bluesky pages.