What We Sought
In commemorating the 90th anniversary of Social Security on August 14, 2025, the Trump-Vance administration acknowledged that “Social Security [is] a lifeline for retired workers, survivors, and people with disabilities and a cornerstone of retirement security across generations.”
And yet, in the months preceding this announcement, the administration had in fact taken steps to undermine this lifeline. On February 27, 2025, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced plans to “implement agency-wide organizational restructuring that [would] include significant workforce reductions.” Soon after, SSA announced plans to limit certain over-the-phone services purportedly for anti-fraud purposes. An internal SSA memo reportedly estimated that the proposed changes to phone services would result in increased “foot traffic” to field offices by “approximately 75,000-85,000 additional visitors per week,” causing “longer wait times and processing time,” and “disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations,” among other predicted impacts and risks. SSA went on to announce the implementation of the plan, but quickly changed the in-person requirements several times, and ultimately dropped it given public backlash and a growing backlog of claims.
In June 2025, SSA removed from its website a variety of customer service metrics and resources, including metrics on how long it takes for SSA to answer calls and process benefit applications, as well as copies of weekly operational videos that SSA had previously recorded and posted to their YouTube channel. The White House reportedly halted a variety of transparency measures.
All of these actions caused considerable confusion and concern for those who rely on these critical services. To shed light on the Trump-Vance administration’s attacks on these lifeline services, Democracy Forward Foundation sent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking:
- internal SSA memoranda discussing changes to over-the-phone services for anti-fraud purposes;
- copies of videos of the weekly SSA operational meetings;
- assessments or data collections on SSA’s operations (including daily visits to SSA offices, wait times, etc.);
- officials’ communications about reported disruptions and degradations in SSA’s operations and services.
What We Received
After filing a FOIA lawsuit against SSA for failing to respond to our requests within the time period required by law, we received an unredacted copy of a requested memo as well as copies of the weekly operational videos that the administration tried to hide for the past nine months. The productions include a number of compelling and candid statements by senior SSA officials on negative operational outcomes of this administration’s policy changes, including the impacts of the loss of expertise in spring 2025 when the administration’s staffing cuts began at the agency. They also make statements about beneficiaries in vulnerable (elderly, poor, disabled) populations who were fearful about losing their benefits. We additionally received field office visit data from January 2025 through March 2026, which shows weekly visits are routinely over 600,000 — a figure a senior SSA official in the March 28, 2025 weekly operational meeting called “significant” and attributed to panic among beneficiaries stemming from this Administration’s chaotic policy changes.
We will provide updates to this page as we receive additional information.
