The Social Security Administration (SSA) has marked the program’s 90th birthday by touting its achievements under the Trump administration.
Why It Matters
August 14 marked the 90th anniversary of Social Security, which has provided hundreds of millions of Americans with retirement, survivor and disability benefits. The program is extremely popular with the public, but its management has come under severe criticism from lawmakers and advocacy groups, and its future remains in question.
What To Know
In a news release issued on Wednesday, the agency touted operational changes it said had improved service for beneficiaries.
According to the SSA, the agency has embarked on a “digital-first” transformation aimed at making services faster and more accessible.
The news release reported that Americans now had 24/7 access to personal “my Social Security” accounts and that more than half a million transactions occurred in the first three weeks after the upgrade. Previously, the SSA website experienced an average of 29 hours of downtime per week, the agency said.
The SSA also reported significant reductions in wait times, with the National 800 Number going from an average 30-minute hold time in 2024 to “single digits last month.”
Field office wait times have fallen by 30 percent, according to the agency, and technology upgrades allowed about 30 percent of calls to be handled instantly—with 90 percent of calls resolved through self-service or callbacks.
The Social Security Administration field office building in San Jose, California, in 2020.
The Social Security Administration field office building in San Jose, California, in 2020.
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The news release also cited other operational improvements, including a 26 percent decrease in the initial disability claims backlog, a 60-day reduction in disability hearing wait times and an earlier-than-expected distribution of more than $17 billion in Social Security payments to more than 3.1 million beneficiaries under the Social Security Fairness Act.
“Our strategy is clear: serve customer needs quickly and completely, no matter how they contact us,” SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano said in the news release. “We are empowering our workforce and embracing innovation to ensure Social Security properly supports the American people and remains strong for the next 90 years.”
Criticism
Democrats and Social Security advocacy groups have been critical of the Trump administration’s handling of the agency. Earlier this year, the federal agency announced it would cut its staffing level from 57,000 to 50,000, and work by the newly created Department of Government Efficiency has sparked concerns over recipient privacy.
“When President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law 90 years ago, he created a lifeline for the American people with a promise: work hard, and you can retire with dignity and peace of mind,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in an email to Newsweek.
He continued: “But instead of honoring his own promise to protect Social Security, Donald Trump and his administration of billionaires have done everything in their power to undermine the program.
“Trump and his billionaires may never have to rely on Social Security to get by—but millions of hard-working Americans do, and that’s why Democrats will always fight to protect it.”
Democrats have been fighting back against the Trump administration’s management of the SSA. Senators Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders and Ron Wyden have introduced the Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act, which would allow for hiring new staff, protecting data and modernizing services to reduce wait times.
“For too long, the SSA has been underfunded, understaffed, and bogged down by bureaucratic hurdles that hurt ordinary Americans,” the senators wrote in a news release. “While billionaires continue to rig the system in their favor, millions of hardworking seniors and disabled Americans are left struggling to access the benefits they’ve earned.”
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare said in a statement marking the anniversary that there had been “unprecedented interference from the Trump administration” and that “severe cutbacks in SSA staff and needless policy changes have made it harder for Americans to access their earned benefits.”
Confidence in Social Security has also waned in recent years. A survey conducted by the nonpartisan organization AARP, which advocates for older Americans, found that confidence in the future of the Social Security system had declined from 43 percent in 2020 to 36 percent in 2025.