Social Security System ‘May Collapse’ In ’30 To 90 Days’ From DOGE Cuts, Warns Ex-Commissioner Martin O’Malley: ‘People Should Start Saving Now!’

by Janae AntrumMarch 19, 2025, 8:41 pmHome Featured, News >

The former head of the Social Security Administration (SSA) and governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015, Martin O’Malley (D), has predicted that the program is being threatened and may collapse which could be a result of the mass firings by Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

DOGE’s mission is to cut government spending but it seems the drastic measures are dismantling the system that has been kept safe for decades.

>READ: ELON MUSK CALLS SOCIAL SECURITY ‘THE BIG ONE TO ELIMINATE’

The SSA has been a stable system for over eight decades by ensuring monthly benefits arrive on time. O’Malley is predicting an implosion in the next 30 to 90 days as payments have been disrupted for over 72.5 million Americans.

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“Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits. People should start saving now,” O’Malley said to people who have retired, the disabled and others who depend on Social Security.

O’Malley has previously expressed his concerns before Congress testifying about the need for Social Security modernization and now warning about DOGE’s firings leading to shortages, technical failures, and office closures.

“Those intermittent IT outages may happen more frequently and for more extended periods of time until there is a s system collapse and an interruption of benefits,” O’Malley stated in an interview with CNBC.

O’Malley says a public outrage will be the only thing to stop the dismantling of SSA.

“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. These are earned benefits,” O’Malley said.

Last month, Michelle King, SSA’s acting commissioner stepped down after a dispute with DOGE over demands to access sensitive data. CEO of financial technology firm Fiserv, Frank Bisignano, has been nominated by the Trump administration as the new commissioner.

Bisignano has yet to be confirmed by the Senate so longtime SSA employee, Leland Dudek is currently acting commissioner. Dudek had a meeting with management last week notifying them the produce a plan to cut half of the SSA workforce in Washington and at least half at regional offices.

The DOGE website details the termination of office leases for Social Security sites across Arkansas, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Kentucky and North Carolina.

This move has raised concerns about DOGE, especially after Dudek was placed on administrative leave for allegedly assisting DOGE representatives.

Rep. John Larson (D-Connecticut) has criticized restructuring as a backdoor benefit cut. “Let me be clear – laying off half of the workforce at the Social Security Administration and shuttering field offices will mean the delay, disruption, and denial of benefits,” Larson warned.

Jill Hornick of the American Federation of Government Employees(AFGE) Local 1395 warns that Americans’ social safety net, particularly Social Security, is at serious risk.

“It will take a while for the effects to be felt, but they’re coming,” Hornick said, predicting the impact will be worse than the planned Medicaid cuts.

The SSA is facing severe staff shortages and will lay off another 7,000 of its 60,000 employees. This will cause longer processing times and reduced resources for Americans, particularly those with new claims for retirement and disability, and older populations.

“Not everybody can do things electronically. If you don’t have people to run an agency that requires hands-on customer service, then, of course, there’s a risk that you could end up with benefits being either denied or interrupted,” Maria Freese, senior legislative representative at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told CNBC.

DOGE also plans to close several field offices across the nation, raising concerns about access to Social Security services for those in low-income and rural areas. This has sparked backlash from Democratic lawmakers like Chuck Schumer.