Tom Yates

Trump plan would limit disability benefits for older Americans Trump administration officials are considering eliminating age as a factor in deciding whether someone is capable of working.

The Wa Post has issued an important story on an upcoming major SSA disability regulation that would especially affect older disabled workers: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
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DOGE Put Critical Social Security Data at Risk, Whistle-Blower Says

DOGE staff at Social Security have put the sensitive data of hundreds of millions is at "high risk," which could have “catastrophic impact,” according to internal SSA docs.

This was not only foreseeable, but widely predicted.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/u...

Social Security stops reporting call wait times and other metrics The changes are the latest sign of the agency’s struggle with website crashes, overloaded servers and long lines at field offices amid Trump cutbacks.

After sending a misleading & partisan press release to millions, Social Security issued a new release on service "improvements" under the new Commissioner, whom it lavishes w/praise.

But SSA deleted most metrics last month, allowing them to cherry pick data.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Yesterday the Social Security Administration sent a highly misleading & political press release about the tax bill to my work account, where I'd signed up for SSA updates.

Then overnight I got it again, this time to my personal account. And I heard from lots of others who did, too. 🧵

Radar screens at Newark airport went black again overnight Radar screens at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport went black again early Friday morning.

For pretty much any government agency you can think of, if their software doesn't work, the agency doesn't work. DOGE fucked up the FAA's software, and people are going to die because of it.

Pope Leo XIV's grandparents were 7th Ward Creoles The newly elected pontiff, born in Chicago, has ancestral ties to the city’s historic Seventh Ward, according to genealogists at The Historic New Orleans Collection.

I didn’t give a wit about new pope coverage, but the first American pope being a man with Black ancestry born in Chicago by way of New Orleans by way of Haiti. Names his self after the pope who condemned slavery? In the Trump era? Oh, baebae, I am HERE for it.

www.wwltv.com/article/news...

Pope Leo XIV Is A Sox Fan, Despite The Early Hope From Cubs Fans, His Brother Confirms The Cubs' Marquee Sports Network, citing ABC News, said the new pontiff supports the North Siders. But his brother said that is not true.

Best Chicago controversy of the new Pope is the Cubs trying to lay claim to him and his brother having to speak up to clear up that he's a Sox fan. blockclubchicago.org/2025/05/08/p...

First question for Pope from Chicago: White Sox or Cubs fan?

Trump just fired the HHS team responsible for calculating the Federal Poverty Line, which determines eligibility for programs like Medicaid, food assistance, and child care.

Trump & DOGE are blocking hardworking Americans from getting the basic assistance they deserve.

The Crisis at Social Security Illustrates Elon Musk and DOGE’s Plan: Explode the Number and Severity of Improper Payments. Subscribe Over the past month I needed a break to deal with organizational issues, including getting the Notes on the Crises Manhattan office(!) set up and needed time to continue a number of investi...

NEW PIECE: I've been working for a while on a piece on social security death notices and payment finality. Just as I was finalizing it, including with a new legal memo!- it was reported that DOGE declared four MILLION people dead. Read all about the issues here

www.crisesnotes.com/the-crisis-a...

From the conservative American Enterprise Institute on the Trump Admin creating a "Master File":

"This is a hacker’s dream & a security nightmare... What were once numerous, separate targets for hackers & hostile foreign actors will become a single, high-value prize."

www.aei.org/technology-a...

Trump Kicks Citizen Off Social Security in Anti-Immigrant Purge Donald Trump has sought to punish immigrants by booting them off of Social Security.

“Imagine, in one Trump administration keystroke, losing your income, your health insurance, access to your bank account, your credit cards, your home, and more.… When Social Security incorrectly declares someone dead, it ruins their lives.” - SSW President Nancy Altman

Great news! A federal court granted a preliminary injunction blocking DOGE from accessing *our* sensitive, personal data at the Social Security Administration 🎉

You should take over from Senator Booker. Dems need to control this floor.

Musk floats falsehoods about Social Security, immigrants as DOGE seeks changes Elon Musk presented the fact that some noncitizens have Social Security numbers as shocking. But that’s how it’s supposed to work. And it doesn’t let them vote.

WaPo: Immigrants authorized to work receive SSNs. The law requires numbers be assigned promptly to immigrants who are legally in the country to work.

But Musk/Gracias presented [that] fact as shocking, something they had stumbled upon & were exposing.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Trying to see if other families began seeing today the pattern I describe in this post. Possibly an emerging disruption in SSI payments to/on behalf of severely disabled adults.

Possible New Disruption of SSI Payments talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/possi...

Moving fast & breaking things at the Social Security Administration! Online service is down

DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Codebase In Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse Social Security systems contain tens of millions of lines of code written in COBOL, an archaic programming language. Safely rewriting that code would take years—DOGE wants it done in months.

BREAKING: DOGE is starting to put together a team to migrate the SSA's computer systems entirely off one of its oldest programming languages in a matter of months, potentially putting the integrity of the system—and the benefits on which tens of millions of Americans rely—at risk.

Elon Musk and his DOGE operatives are lying about Social Security direct deposits.

The changes they claim will reduce fraud are doing the opposite: emboldening scammers. More below.

www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-m...

Fourth, people must still visit SSA offices in person to make direct deposit changes.

Third, they say that applicants for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) & Supplemental Security Income (SSI) no longer have to prove their identities at application--but they still must do it later, saying "multiple opportunities exist during the decision process to verify identity.”

3. Children, for whom there is also no online application--so ALL of their parents will need to visit offices in person

4. Spouses of retired, deceased, and disabled workers

Second, they say the policy will still apply to:

1. Retirees, by far the biggest group of applicants

2. Survivors (aka grieving families), for whom there is no online application--so ALL of them will have to visit offices in person to complete applications. Most now apply by phone

First, they delay it for 2 weeks, until 4/14. That's nowhere near enough time to do a cost-benefit analysis, develop a comprehensive plan, train staff (3K of whom must leave by then!), inform the public, etc.

This is why the acting commissioner said a rollout like this usually takes 2 *years*.

SSA just announced some changes to the "identity proofing" policy that has caused so much controversy because it will force millions more people to seek in-person help.

TL;DR: There's not much to see here. 🧵

www.ssa.gov/news/press/r...

Why DOGE is struggling to find fraud in Social Security Claims of massive fraud by Elon Musk and President Trump are at odds with reams of audits and reports on the agency’s spending.

As I told the Post: "The wild claims [the Trump Administration is] making — I’ve never seen anything like this."

Note: my past work includes responding to Social Security conspiracy theories that constituents send their representatives, often based on chain emails/message boards.

wapo.st/41O5ZNm

Trump-appointed acting commissioner Leland Dudek refusing to comply with a court order to stop Elon Musk’s DOGE from continuing to access sensitive Social Security data.

Instead, Dudek is threatening to shut down our Social Security system so that 70 million Americans won't get their benefits.

🧵

Social Security to require millions to make claims in person rather than by phone