Bad news for Social Security beneficiaries: This new proposal would stop payments to 170,000 people
A report says there is a memo circulating at the Social Security Administration which proposes ceasing payments to thousands of beneficiaries.
The Trump administration has been moving quickly with its attempts to cut massive sums that are spent to run the federal government. This has included ceasing payments for foreign aid programs, domestic programs, research grants and more. As well as closing departments, firing thousands of federal workers or offering them pay packages to leave voluntarily.
While Trump repeatedly said that Social Security wouldn’t be touched, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have taken a chain saw to the agency. Dozens of offices have been, or will be, shuttered and at least 7,000 employees have been sacked, potentially affecting the ability of beneficiaries to access Social Security services.
Now it’s been reported that there is a memo circulating at the SSA that proposes stopping monthly payments to over 170,000 beneficiaries. Those affected would include beneficiaries receiving retirement, survivor, disability and low-income benefits.
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Who could see their Social Security benefits stopped?
Government Executive reports that the SSA memo proposes ceasing payments that are made to people without Social Security numbers. While people without an SSN are not eligible to receive Social Security benefits of their own, there are scenarios where they can accept benefits on behalf of an eligible person who does have an SSN as that person’s “representative payee.”
Kathleen Romig, the director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told the outlet that most cases where there is a representative payee involve disabled children or adults and the elderly. If implemented, over 170,000 payees without an SSN would be barred from receiving any payments.
US born children who are receiving Supplemental Security Income or disability benefits whose parents don’t have an SSN could make up a significant number of those beneficiaries who are impacted says Government Executive. Likewise, widows and survivors of Americans, especially those living overseas, could also lose their benefits earned by their deceased spouse or parent.
New SSA proposal believed to be part of Trump administration immigration policy
Several employees at the agency ventured that this may be part of the Trump administration’s larger crackdown on immigration. One person at the SSA explained that the only time someone who is in the US illegally is paid by the SSA is when they are a representative payee.
“So by barring people without SSNs from applying to be payee, they would be able to say they stopped paying illegal immigrants Social Security,” one SSA employee explained. “But it will create a crisis.”
“We usually are paying them because their kid is severely disabled and still a minor,” the person added. “If they aren’t the right person to manage funds, who is?”
There is concern that selecting another person as the payee other than the parent or spouse, which are considered the most preferred representative payee candidates, could open the door to potential abuse, including the payee stealing the monthly benefits.
“There may be a higher risk of fraud or misuse if we select a friend, other relative or organization as representative payee instead of a parent or spouse,” says an internal document that Government Executive cites.
There is also the challenge for SSA staff to find new payees, that must be assessed by staff, which is already extremely difficult. So much so explained Romig that sometimes child welfare agencies or other institutional payees are chosen.
With the already overburdened staff at the SSA being reduced, piling on thousands of cases of beneficiaries whose payee needs to submit a SSN or find a new payee with one could mean payments are frozen for those beneficiaries until the situation is sorted.
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