Social Security Advocates Warn of Dire Consequences From Trump's Budget Cuts
Aside from benefit cuts, there would be closed offices, backlogs for claims and long waits for help, the groups say.
Social Security advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers say President Donald Trump’s just-released 2021 budget plan betrays his promises not to touch Social Security and Medicare.
Trump’s $4.8 trillion budget proposes to slash the Social Security Administration’s budget by $200 million and cut Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) by $63 billion over 10 years.
The cuts would come at a time “when we should be increasing the agency’s budget because 10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day,” said Linda Benesch, communications director for Social Security Works, in a Monday comment to ThinkAdvisor.
Budget cuts to Social Security “lead to field office closures, long hold times on the 800 number, and a huge backlog for disability claims,” Benesch said. “It makes it more difficult for the American people to claim their earned benefits — exactly the opposite of what Trump promised to do.”
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said in a Monday statement that the administration “wants to slash $478 billion from Medicare over a decade, which could compromise health care access for millions of seniors.” The budget would also “gut Medicaid with some $1 trillion in cuts over 10 years, undermining older Americans’ access to long-term care.”
Trump’s fiscal 2021 budget also cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid and Affordable Care Act subsidies over 10 years.
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a Monday statement that Trump “started this con with his 2016 campaign promises not to touch Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and now he wants to cut them by more than $1.5 trillion. Bottom line, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are on the chopping block as long as Donald Trump is president.”
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