With the Trump administration both lauded and lambasted for cutting federal spending, Social Security has become a focal point of some Democrat opposition to the spending cuts. Critics have focused on reductions of staff at Social Security offices, as well as the decision to allow Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access to sensitive personal information of beneficiaries.

“President Trump and Elon Musk have created chaos at this agency, reducing staff and announcing plans to close field offices across the country,” U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher said in a statement. “Reduced staff and fewer offices will lead to longer wait times and uncertainty for people who depend on Social Security.”

Social Security officials have disputed some of the criticism.

“Since Jan. 1, 2025, the agency has not permanently closed or announced the permanent closure of any local field office,” officials said in a statement in late March.

Some satellite offices where remote hearings were held for benefit approvals were listed on a list of leases terminated by DOGE. Those smaller offices, sometimes located in rural areas, have been less used as many hearings related to benefit claims occur online through Zoom or similar teleconferencing programs.

Asked for comment, none of the Houston area’s Republican House members replied.

Nor did the offices of Texas Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn. Cornyn’s office did, however, note that last year he “returned nearly $60 million in federal funds to Texans,” via his constituent services. Elected officials often respond to calls related to missing or denied benefits, helping voters in their area sort out the bureaucracy of the government or correct errors.

Long waits
Despite the politics, there is no question the system is struggling to keep up with demand for appointments and claim approvals. More people nationally are flooding Social Security phone lines and offices, based on department data and other sources.

“The number of calls is up, the hold times are up… one in four calls is getting a busy signal,” said Kevin Glass, external relations director for AARP.

More than 483,000 called into Social Security daily in March, according to department data. As a result, the callback time when someone asked to be contacted jumped to two and a half hours for the people who could get connected.

More alarming, Glass said, was the sharp jump in March in callers who simply received a busy signal. After averaging no busy signals from November 2023 to November 2024, the number who were rejected from the automated system ticked up slightly, then jumped in March to 28.4% of all calls. 

“It has done a U-turn,” Glass said.

Calls into AARP about problems with Social Security are also up, Glass said. AARP tracks why someone calls into their help line, and increasingly a challenge with Social Security customer service is the reason.

“We’re getting calls at more than double the baseline rate,” he said.

Trump administration officials have said they aim to reduce fraud in the system, although many of their claims have gone unproven. Musk, for example, has mentioned people 150 years old on the benefit rolls – only to have experts say he and DOGE are misunderstanding Social Security’s coding system.

The system works, critics of DOGE’s analysis have said.

“SSA’s administrative budget is already less than 1% of total benefits paid out each year—a level of efficiency you won’t find in the private sector,” said Everett Kelley, National President of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a February press release. “And the agency’s own Inspector General found that 99% of Social Security payments in fiscal years 2015-2022 were accurate.”

Without acknowledging the longer waits many recipients and prospective recipients are facing, Social Security officials said they are working to eliminate fraud, while improving their phone and online systems. Officials have also clarified some requirements for in-person changes to claims information.

“We are modernizing how we serve the public—enhancing both security and accessibility,” said Leland Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, in a statement. “These updates improve our ability to detect and prevent fraud while providing more flexible options for people to access their benefits.”

That is unlikely to happen unless the agency improves both the number of its local staff and employee morale, said the leader of the union representing Social Security workers.

“Since 2009 our staffing has declined, but we have 8 million more claims,” said Joel Smith, president of the AFGE Local 3184, which represents Social Security workers in offices from Arizona to Louisiana.

In a social media post, Smith apologized on behalf of the workers for the long lines Houston-area applicants and recipients face.

To calm nerves among workers in the Social Security offices, he hands out crocheted baubles of a dumpster on fire holding a sign that says, "It's fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine."

“We just had employees being told to quit and employees given a bonus to leave,” said Smith, a 22-year veteran of Social Security claims and law professor. “These are skilled jobs. We have options, and the reality is you are going to see even more of these employees leave.”

Given that it can take two or three years for someone to be properly trained and skilled at addressing claims, the loss of that talent, Smith said, will immediately impact local offices at a moment when Baby Boomers are still retiring in droves and people are living longer – meaning more people needing more services.

'A little scary'
Phyllis Moss is one of the lucky ones, she admits. In January, with her late-March 65th birthday approaching and her health insurance about to expire after her retirement, she began the process of being added to the Medicare rolls.

“I thought I was doing it right and could get this all done,” Moss said.

Then the voice on the automated line when she called Social Security said the hold time was two hours. Moss hung up.

She called back a few days later, and the voice told her the same thing.

Moss was flabbergasted and stressed. When her husband signed up for Medicare in 2023, she said it took 10 minutes. She was weighing waiting weeks for the meeting, and then perhaps longer for an approval.

“To think I might not have insurance is a little scary,” she said. In conversations with friends and family, she heard some horror stories, but nothing like the waits she was facing.

Talking with others, however, also solved Moss’ predicament. A friend connected her with someone they knew at a Houston-area Social Security office. That person called her.

“It took all of 10 minutes,” Moss said.

Her situation was settled, but only through some good fortune. Moss said it made her feel for elderly or disabled people who are not so lucky.

“I don’t know how they muddle through that,” she said. “You really have to plan and even then it might be weeks and waiting.”

Benefit battle

The broader concern, at least for many recipients and critics of the Trump-Musk plans, is that what they receive each month could be slashed or complicated by efforts to rein in spending.

More than 5.25 million Texans receive benefits from Social Security, including more than 3.4 million retired workers, receiving about $8.4 billion each month either through direct benefits from reaching retirement age or being eligible through disability or the death of a spouse eligible to receive benefits.

“These are hardworking people who have worked their entire lives and are counting on these benefits for their day-to-day,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a social media post as she and Garcia toured senior centers on April 15.

About 580,000 of those recipients fall under the Supplemental Security Income that provides for low-income elderly, disabled and blind people who are not eligible for the more common form of Social Security.

Since its approval 90 years ago – the Social Security Act was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Aug. 14, 1935 – the system has been intended to provide the elderly and disabled some stability.

To keep that assurance for those eligible, the department has to process claims and direct benefits responsibly, said Smith, the union president. That requires competent staff, many of whom are reaching a breaking point.

“They are not leaving when they feel it is time to leave,” Smith said. “They are leaving because they are in an environment where they are being told to leave… It feels as if it was a system that was internally set to break, and it has been breaking for 20 years.”

Both political parties bear some responsibility, he said.

“Do they understand the problem? Yes. Do I think they will do anything about it? No,” Smith said. “One party will cut your throat, and then one party will say ‘I’m sorry you are bleeding’ and then not hand you a Band Aid.”

View this article in the Houston Chronicle.