WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: First lady Jill Biden, U.S. President Joe Biden, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Melania Trump stand together ahead of his Inauguration, at the White House on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Former President Joe Biden is slamming the Trump Administration for gutting the Social Security Administration.
On Tuesday evening, Biden, who has avoided speaking publicly since leaving the White House in January, delivered this condemnation during a speech at the national conference of Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled in Chicago.
“In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has made so much damage and so much destruction,” he said, referring to the second Trump administration. “It’s kind of breathtaking.”
When Donald Trump took office in January, the Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative of his second administration, imposed large budget cuts across federal agencies, including the SSA.
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DOGE’s mandates include reducing the workforce, closing internal departments and eliminating phone support services.
In late February, SSA acting commissioner Leland Dudek disclosed that his agency would reduce its workforce from 57,000 down to 50,000 – a 12.2% reduction.
The SSA stated that the “massive reorganizations” would result in the “abolishment of organizations and positions, directed reassignments, and reductions in staffing.”
“They’ve taken a hatchet to the Social Security Administration (SSA), pushing additional 7,000 employees – 7,000 – out the door in that time, including the most seasoned career officials,” Biden noted in his speech. “Now they’re getting ready to push thousands more out the door.
“Already, we can see the effects. For example, thousands of people use the Social Security website every single day to check on their benefits and submit their claims. But now the Social Security Administration technology division has been cut in half, so the website’s crashing. People can’t sign on to their accounts.
“Serious people are now generally concerned for the first time in history for the first and only time in history that Social Security benefits may be delayed or interrupted.”
Biden also recalled when Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed the entire SSA amounted to “a Ponzi scheme.”
“What the hell are they talking about?” he asked. “People earn these benefits. They paid into that benefit. They rely on that benefit. And no one, no one, no one, should take it away.”
White House spokesman Steven Cheung criticized Biden in a statement, saying that his “incoherent speech” showed he had a “feeble mind” in a “rapid decline to new lows.”
“President Trump has repeatedly promised to protect Social Security and ensure higher take-home pay for seniors by ending the taxation of Social Security benefits,” he then mentioned. “Anybody saying otherwise is either stupid or an all-out liar, or both in Biden’s case.”
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I don’t believe a word coming out of Biden's mouth. He was the worst President in my lifetime & I’m 74. I thought Jimmy Carter was the worst but at least Carter a decent man who meant well but wasn’t qualified. Biden needs to STFU and his wife, Jill, should be ashamed of herself for encouraging him to run for president. Everyone could see he was senile. And before that he was corrupt. Ten percent for “The Big Guy”. With Hunter on the Board of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company. Hunter was involved with no experience at all except being Biden's son. Biden was also getting money from Uzbekistan and Hungary. He also was a pedo when he was a Senator. He showered with his then 12 yo daughter, Ashley, who documented it in her diary that she left at her rehab facility. Even his brother, James Biden, was indicted for insurance fraud by overvaluing properties he was insuring. The only Biden member who wasn’t corrupt was his sister Valerie who seemed to try to keep him out of trouble but failed.