‘Just a Mess’: Staff Cuts, Rushed Changes and Anxiety at Social Security
The New York Times
President Trump promised not to touch Social Security, but as Elon Musk’s team trims staff and plans cuts to phone services, the system is groaning under the pressure.
The line started forming outside the Social Security office in suburban Glendale, Ariz., not long after sunrise, dozens of retirees and people with disabilities, shuffling papers, some leaning on walkers, all anxious to know whether President Trump’s government overhaul had put their safety nets at risk.
When 9 a.m. came, an employee emerged from the building with fliers asking the crowd to come back — once they had scheduled an appointment.
“I’ve called for days!” one woman yelled.
“We came from a long ways away,” said another. Still another let everyone know they had been handed a load of bunk, though she used a more colorful term.
With the stock market in turmoil and the economy under threat, beneficiaries might see their monthly Social Security checks as predictable amid the chaos rippling out of Washington. After all, Mr. Trump has promised not to cut Social Security benefits for the 73 million Americans enrolled.
But that promise has not insulated the Depression-era program once deemed the third rail of American politics. Thousands of worried and frustrated recipients have thronged local field offices, asking why the phone lines are jammed, whether their local offices will be closed by Elon Musk’s team of software engineers and technology executives and whether they will lose their benefits.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
The 22nd Amendment is clear: President Trump has to give up his office after his second term. But his refusal to accept that underscores how far he is willing to consider going to consolidate power.
In the first weekend since President Trump unveiled broad tariffs, many shoppers sought to get ahead of expected price increases, while others showed patience.
Many political, business and union leaders who castigated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and pressed him to resign have done an about-face and support his run for mayor.
The man may be related to the girls, who all survived, the police said. An 11-year-old called 911, and officers rushed to the house in Brooklyn where the children lived.
The Department of Investigation, tasked with stamping out corruption in city government, has lost more than a quarter of its employees since 2019.
The rising water levels have prompted rescues and road closures. The storm, which has killed at least 16 people, doesn’t show signs of letting up.
The businessman has won supporters and detractors as he considers running for mayor or governor of California as Los Angeles rebuilds from the wildfires in January.
The disgraced former congressman is set to be sentenced on April 25. His lawyers asked for a penalty of two years, the minimum allowed.
Albert Jones’s 11 books describe life in prison. His victims’ relatives say his family should not benefit from a sale of his story.
The firing of the head of the National Security Agency was only the latest move that has eroded the country’s fortifications against cyberattacks, especially those targeting elections.
The settlement, which still needs formal approval, covers more than 6,800 claims of abuse, some of which date back to 1959.
In two months, around 400 migrants have been held there, mostly Venezuelan and Nicaraguan citizens designated for deportation.
The student, Rumeysa Ozturk, was detained by ICE agents in Massachusetts, driven to Vermont and flown to a detention center in Louisiana, where the government was trying to argue her court case.