The former head of the Social Security Administration warns that proposed cuts to the agency could lead the entire system to “collapse,” disrupting benefits payments to millions of Americans.
“Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse, and there will be an interruption of benefits,” Martin O’Malley, former Social Security commissioner under the Biden administration, told CNBC. “I think that will happen within the next 30 to 90 days.”
“People should start saving now,” he urged.
O’Malley, a Democrat who served as governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015, said proposed reductions in funding and staffing from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have already created chaos at the agency.
More than 72.5 million Americans rely on Social Security for benefits, with almost 90 percent of Americans over the age of 65 relying on the program. The program has not missed sending payments in over 80 years of operation.
Neither the White House nor SSA immediately responded to a request for comment from the Daily Beast on O’Malley’s remarks.
As part of Musk’s government-slashing crusade under DOGE, last week the SSA notified workers it would undergo “significant workforce reductions” as part of an “agency-wide organizational restructuring.” While one anonymous source within the agency told the Associated Press that the system could cut up to 50 percent of its workforce, SSA has denied this claim, saying in a statement Feb. 28 that it had “set a staffing target of 50,000, down from the current level of approximately 57,000 employees.” The SSA has offered buyouts to agency employees, with a deadline of March 14, before layoffs begin.
DOGE has also said it planned to close 45 SSA offices across the country by letting their leases expire.
O’Malley predicted a massive political backlash if workers who have paid into the system their entire lives begin to see payments interrupted.
“People are going to start bringing a lot of heat to members of Congress who have been enabling the destruction of Social Security and the interruption of earned benefits,” O’Malley said.
Social Security is widely popular among Americans, which has made Republicans’ longstanding efforts to revamp the system politically perilous—and offered Democrats a cudgel.
On Monday, top Senate Democrats—including Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, Patty Murray of Washington, and Ron Wyden of Oregon—held a press conference to denounce the Trump administration and DOGE for trying to “destroy” the agency.
“It is hard to believe that the Trump administration wants to cut Social Security, but that’s what’s happening,” Schumer said.
“We’re in a pincer move that shows just what they’re up to,” he said, noting the agency’s plan to fire 7,000 workers and Musk’s recent comments decrying the program as a “Ponzi scheme.”
Democrats in the House have also sounded the alarm.
“The Trump administration is putting Social Security benefits at risk by firing the staff who help beneficiaries and closing down the offices that serve communities across the country,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement earlier this week.
Other changes have rocked the SSA since Trump took office. Michelle King, the agency’s acting commissioner, resigned in February after a dispute over DOGE’s access to sensitive user data. President Trump has tapped Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano as the new commissioner, but the Senate has not yet confirmed him. In the interim, Trump has named Leland Dudek—a midlevel career employee at the SSA who was previously placed on leave for cooperating with DOGE—as acting commissioner.