President Trump Archives

Trump Wants to Reclassify Social Security Staffers as Political Appointees

The Trump administration is again targeting the Social Security Administration (SSA) with changes that could undermine its mission. President Trump seeks to replace career civil servants at federal agencies (including SSA) with politically loyal appointees, using a classification known as “Schedule F.” This reclassification is designed to boost the president's control over career federal staffers by removing their civil service protections and making them easier to fire.

NCPSSM2025-04-24T11:00:13-04:00April 23rd, 2025|Categories: Elon Musk, President Biden, President Trump, Social Security Administration (SSA)|

Trump Hands Big Pharma a Gift, Undermines Seniors

President Trump has signed a sweeping executive order that dilutes Medicare’s ability to negotiate prescription drug prices. Though the White

NCPSSM2025-04-17T10:50:38-04:00April 16th, 2025|Categories: Prescription Drug Prices, President Trump|

Martin O’Malley Makes the Case Against Trump, Musk & DOGE on Our Podcast

On Friday, April 4, our “You Earned This” podcast will feature a special guest: former Maryland Governor and Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley. It’s a conversation that everyone who cares about the future of Social Security should hear. O'Malley, who led the Social Security Administration (SSA) during the final year of Joe Biden’s presidency, brings a voice of consternation --- and determination to the national conversation. His message is clear: Social Security is under attack, and the consequences for millions of Americans couldn’t be more dire.

NCPSSM2025-04-04T16:12:27-04:00April 3rd, 2025|Categories: President Trump, Social Insurance, Social Security, Social Security Administration (SSA)|

7 Questions for Trump’s Social Security Commissioner Nominee

President Trump’s pick to head the Social Security Administration, Frank Bisignano, will have his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday morning. The financial services CEO and Republican donor has been waiting in the wings since the Trump administration took over in January. In the meantime, Elon Musk and his DOGE squad have invaded the Social Security Administration (SSA) and wreaked considerable havoc on the agency --- alarming seniors’ advocates and a sizeable swath of the general public. In the absence of a confirmed commissioner, Acting SSA chief Leland Dudek has abetted Musk and DOGE every step of the way, allowing them access to the sensitive personal data of 73 million Americans for no justifiable reason, radically reducing the workforce that serves Social Security customers, closing field offices, and slashing services on the agency’s 1-800 phone number that seniors rely on. He claims to be “following orders” from President Trump and Elon Musk. Dudek threatened to "shut down" SSA after a federal judge ruled against the agency's decision to grant Musk and DOGE access to beneficiaries' private data. Bisignano has no appreciable experience in public service in general --- or Social Security in particular --- but Trump wants him to run one of the federal agencies that most closely touches Americans' lives every day. We don't know much about what Bisignano thinks of Social Security or what he will do to the program if confirmed.

NCPSSM2025-03-24T17:55:00-04:00March 24th, 2025|Categories: Bernie Sanders, President Trump, Social Security, Social Security Administration (SSA)|

Trump “Buyout” Offer May Devastate Social Security Administration

Voters may have sent various messages to Washington last November, but they certainly did not include a call to gut the federal workforce that serves American seniors and people with disabilities. Yet, that’s exactly what the Trump administration --- abetted by billionaire advisor ex-officio Elon Musk --- is attempting to do. On Tuesday, federal workers --- including employees of the Social Security Administration --- received an email from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), offering “deferred resignation.” The email said employees could resign now and continue to receive pay and benefits through September --- an offer of dubious legality that was immediately criticized by Democratic lawmakers and labor unions representing federal workers.

Walter Gottlieb2025-02-03T13:45:50-04:00January 31st, 2025|Categories: President Trump, Social Security, Social Security Administration (SSA), Social Security Disability Insurance, Uncategorized|

Special Counsel in Biden Classified Documents Case Plays Amateur Gerontologist

By declining to charge President Biden but gratuitously impugning the president’s cognitive abilities, special counsel Robert Hur overstepped his bounds and fed into a blatantly ageist narrative. Hur pulled a “James Comey” yesterday in announcing that the president would not be charged with a crime but criticizing Biden’s handling of classified documents, just as Comey did with Hillary Clinton in 2016. (And we know how that turned out.) But, unlike Comey, Hur also felt the need to disparage the President’s age and his memory, referring to Biden as "a well-meaning, elderly man."

Walter Gottlieb2024-02-09T17:11:22-04:00February 9th, 2024|Categories: ageism, Election 2024, President Biden, President Trump|

Seniors’ Programs in Jeopardy if Republicans Retake Majority

Any older voters inclined to put the GOP back in control of the House and Senate in November’s elections might well remember what the Republicans have long wanted to do to their earned benefits. As if to provide that very reminder, Senator Rick Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, released a plan last week that would terminate Social Security and Medicare.