One Year Later, Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room Highlights Wins for Americans

One Year Later, Senate Democrats' Social Security War Room Highlights Wins for Americans

Warren: "We're keeping up the fight to protect - and expand - Social Security to make sure it's here for generations of Americans to come."

Text of Report (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - Senate Democrats' Social Security War Room, led by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), published a new report highlighting how, in its first year, it has fought to protect Americans' Social Security benefits.

"Since Day One, Donald Trump's attacks on Social Security have made it harder for Americans to get their benefits. We launched our Social Security War Room a year ago to fight back and stop Trump's damage, and that's exactly what we've done," said Senator Warren. "We're keeping up the fight to protect - and expand - Social Security to make sure it's here for generations of Americans to come."

Breaking his campaign promises to "not touch" Social Security, Donald Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the Social Security Administration (SSA), jeopardizing Americans' access to their hard-earned benefits. President Trump and his SSA Commissioner, Frank Bisignano, have slashed thousands of employees and upended critical services at field offices and on the agency's customer service phone line - resulting in backdoor benefits cuts for Americans.

Senate Democrats launched the Social Security War Room one year ago to fight for seniors, draw attention to this customer service chaos President Trump and Commissioner Frank Bisignano have caused at SSA, and counter their relentless attacks on the agency and Americans' benefits. One year later, the War Room has succeeded in stopping many of President Trump's harmful policies in their tracks, including:

• Launched Investigations Revealing True Metrics: Since its launch, the Social Security War Room has exposed the Trump Administration's attacks on Social Security and initiated nearly two dozen investigations and reports - some of which forced the Administration to reverse course on harmful policies. When Americans reported waiting hours on the phone to talk to a SSA representative while the agency listed conflicting metrics online, Democrats conducted an investigation that revealed the truth about long wait times. The investigation found the average call wait time was over ten times higher than what the SSA claimed online - if the call was even answered at all.

• Debunking Myths and Misinformation: When the administration put out inaccurate statements that misled the public about the state of Social Security, the War Room was quick to respond, fact-checking the administration's statements and debunking its myths. This included the Trump administration's baseless claims of rampant fraud, along with its outright lies about the impact of Trump and Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill on Social Security benefits.

• Secured Key Commitments from Social Security Head: After a personal meeting with Senator Warren, the Social Security War Room secured key commitments from Commissioner Bisignano to better protect Americans' benefits, including that he would not make it easier to fire SSA workers by shifting them to Schedule F, would ensure Americans who can only access benefits through paper checks would still be able to get them, and importantly, would cooperate with an independent Inspector General investigation of Social Security data and metrics. During the meeting, the Commissioner also admitted he was responsible for a blast email that went out to all SSA beneficiaries inaccurately describing how President Trump's OBBBA would affect benefits.

• Introduced Bills to Support and Expand Social Security: Members of the Social Security War Room have led the charge to introduce legislation to safeguard Social Security and reverse the Trump administration's disastrous cuts, including introducing the Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act. Protecting Social Security also means ensuring future generations can access the program and expanding benefits for seniors and people with disabilities. In the fall, Democratic senators in the War Room also introduced the Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act, which would temporarily expand Social Security benefits to ensure they can meet the moment and cover the increased cost of living older Americans are facing under the Trump administration. Later, Social Security War Room leaders reintroduced the Supplement Security Income Restoration (SSI) Act, which would make long-needed updates to the program to ensure beneficiaries can live with dignity and are not trapped in poverty.

President Trump's policies and Commissioner Bisignano's disastrous leadership continues to threaten Americans' benefits, including by haphazardly shifting employees and limiting field office services to cover over the administration's catastrophic staff cuts. And Trump administration officials and Republicans in Congress have floated alarming proposals that would weaken Social Security - including raising the retirement age.

As the Trump administration, Commissioner Bisignano, and Republicans in Congress continue to undermine Social Security, the War Room will sound the alarm and fight back, preventing the administration from gutting the agency and working to increase Social Security benefits and ensure the program is here for generations to come.

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