"They want to rob it": Former Social Security head says Musk, Trump are "wrecking" agency to raid it

Source: Salon

Published April 18, 2025 9:00AM (EDT)


The Social Security Administration delivers one of the most popular and widely relied-upon services in the country, but that doesn't mean it's always received five-star reviews. The SSA had a reputation for long processing times, overburdened customer support and inefficiency, but appeared to be turning around under the leadership of Administrator Martin O’Malley. The appointee of President Joe Biden oversaw a 68% dip in call wait time and a 24% decrease in disability hearing delays during his year-long stint at the agency.

That progress may be in jeopardy under Donald Trump. The president has teamed up with billionaire Elon Musk to drastically slash government spending, and the pair has the agency in their sights. In a phone interview with Salon, O’Malley warned that hard-won improvements to the SSA were quickly unraveling amid the biggest assault on the program in its history.

“For over 90 years, Social Security has never missed a monthly payment and remains one of the most trusted and beloved programs in our federal government,” O’Malley told Salon. “We saw what was possible for that one year. By the time that President Biden left office, every service metric was moving in a better direction… and now these guys seem intent on sinking it.”

At a conference on threats to Social Security earlier this week, O'Malley said cuts sought by the Department of Government Efficiency ​​​​​could pose an existential danger to the system. “There’s always room to increase productivity… but that’s not what the DOGE/Musk/Trump team has been about. They are gutting this agency’s staffing with a chainsaw, and they are driving it into a total system collapse,” O’Malley said. “It’s going to be extremely expensive to put Humpty Dumpty back together again once they wreck it.”

Read more: https://www.salon.com/2025/04/18/they-want-to-rob-it-former-social-security-head-says-musk-are-wrecking-agency-to-raid-it/