How AARP Is Fighting for Social Security Right Now

Emily Paulin,

Updated April 30, 2025

AARP

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En español

Published March 26, 2025

/ Updated April 30, 2025

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is making big changes to how it operates, including cuts to its workforce and the closure of many of its regional offices. A proposal to scrap over-the-phone application services was recently abandoned, thanks in part to fierce opposition from AARP. But uncertainty about future changes at the agency remains.

AARP is sending a clear message that Social Security must be protected. We’re tracking new SSA initiatives and taking action when needed to ensure that all older Americans can safely access the benefits they’ve earned and get questions answered in ways that are best for them.

“AARP will continue to lift the voices of our members and all older Americans as SSA works to improve its service delivery,” AARP’s Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer, wrote in an April 28 letter to SSA Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek. “We value our shared commitment to ensuring that every person who relies on Social Security is treated with dignity, fairness, and respect — and we look forward to continuing this dialogue in the months ahead.”

On Thursday, May 1, AARP will host a tele-town hall on Social Security, where you can ask questions and hear more about the steps AARP is taking to protect the program.

The virtual event is just one way that AARP, which advocates for more than 100 million Americans age 50 and older, is fighting to protect Social Security. AARP has adopted an “all-hands-on-deck approach” in the current “ever-changing, and often confusing, political and media environment” to ensure AARP members are heard, said John Hishta, senior vice president of campaigns for AARP.

We are engaging with SSA leadership and lawmakers, educating decision-makers and the public on the importance of Social Security to older Americans, pushing for improved customer service and mobilizing our members.

Here’s how AARP is fighting to protect Social Security.

1. Defending against cuts to customer service

Thanks in part to powerful opposition from AARP, the SSA recently abandoned its plan to implement burdensome new in-person identity verification requirements that could have forced millions of older Americans into field offices to secure their benefits. The walk-back is “great news for older Americans,” LeaMond said in an April 9 statement, released the day after the SSA announced it was scrapping the plan.

“We were pleased to see the SSA respond to the concerns raised by older Americans and reverse course,” LeaMond wrote in her most recent letter to SSA’s Dudek. “Your decision will make a meaningful difference for millions of individuals who count on SSA to be accessible and responsive to their needs.”

The SSA administers roughly $1.6 trillion in payments to more than 73 million Americans each year. Many beneficiaries rely on the SSA’s phone lines to claim their benefits.

In March, the SSA said its plan to require beneficiaries to confirm their identities in person at a local office or online was an anti-fraud measure. The proposal triggered an outpouring of concerns from older Americans and AARP quickly demanded that the SSA not cut phone services. The agency was already trying to address reports of poor customer service.

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AARP’s LeaMond called the agency’s cuts “deeply unacceptable” in a letter to the SSA acting commissioner. “With Americans already waiting hours to get connected with Social Security on the phone, it is outrageous that under this new policy, older Americans, especially those in rural areas, will have to call, wait on hold for possibly hours, make an appointment, or even take a day off work to claim the benefits they have worked for and earned,” she wrote.

Facing widespread backlash, the SSA scrapped the plan on April 8.

Read our story on the SSA walking back its plan to cut phone services.
Read our April 28 letter to the SSA acting commissioner emphasizing the ongoing needs of older adults.
Read our March 19 letter to the SSA acting commissioner opposing the cuts to phone services.

2. Ensuring Social Security can meet the needs of older Americans

Customer service failures at the SSA persist — in fact, problems have worsenedover the past few months creating a “chaotic environment” that is “fueling fear and concern among many older Americans,” AARP’s LeaMond wrote in an April letter to SSA’s Dudek.

In February, the SSA announced plans to slash its workforce by 12 percent, from about 57,000 employees to 50,000, and to reduce its number of regional field offices from 10 to four. Staffing levels at the agency were already at historic lows, and since the reductions were announced, there have been reports of website crashes, long waits at overwhelmed field offices and increasing phone hold times when trying to contact services representatives.

“This rapid decline in performance is deeply alarming,” AARP’s LeaMond wrote.

The SSA then reported that 2,500 workers left their jobs on April 19 with “voluntary separation incentive payments.” Of that group, at least 1,962 — nearly 80 percent — worked in field offices directly serving the public. Forty of the SSA’s local field offices have lost a quarter or more of their employees.

The SSA said in an April statement that it has“refocused its workforce on customer service” by directingteleworking employees to report in-person on a full-time basis, surging employees in support positions to front-line service positions and eliminating layers of outdated and inefficient bureaucracy in its headquarters and regional offices.

AARP continues to call for more clarity on how the SSA is fixing its customer service shortfalls. “SSA needs to be transparent about its service changes and seek input from the older Americans who will be affected,” LeaMond said in a March statement.

Read our story on customers’ recent experiences at Social Security’s field offices.
Read out story on which local field offices are losing staff.
Read our story on AARP's call to fix the current customer service crisis at the SSA.

3. Calling on Congress to act

AARP is also asking Congress, which sets the SSA’s budget, to make sure the agency has the resources it needs to prioritize and improve customer service, and that the money is being used effectively.

“The customer service crisis at Social Security has been building for years. As the population ages, demand is going up — but funding from Congress hasn’t kept pace, and now we’re seeing even more staffing cuts without a clear plan to improve service,” said Bill Sweeney, AARP’s senior vice president for government affairs, in April.

“Americans have paid into Social Security their whole working lives, and they’ve paid for the support that comes with it,” he added. “Anything less is unacceptable.”

4. Raising your concerns with decision-makers

Since the SSA and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced its moves to cut costs and curb fraud in February, thousands of AARP members have voiced concerns about the safety of personal data, the possibility of delayed payments and long wait times for customer service.

AARP has raised — and will continue to raise — these concerns and seek answers from leadership during this period of change. Since February, we’ve regularly contacted the SSA with questions on everything from how DOGE is accessing and using beneficiaries’ personal data to why certain field offices have recently closed for in-person services.

In our most recent letter to the SSA, we urged the agency to consider the needs of older Americans as they implement new tools and technologies.

“As SSA utilizes AI-powered tools to handle certain customer service tasks, older Americans will expect timely and consistent access to those services and for their personal information to be protected,” AARP’s LeaMond wrote. “It will be important for SSA to account for differing levels of comfort with technology, ensure strong safeguards, and communicate clearly about how these changes will be implemented.”

Read all of AARP’s recent letters to the SSA via our Government Watch page.

5. Mobilizing our members

Since the beginning of the year, more than 1.35 million AARP activists have sent more than 2 million messages to their Congressional representatives, urging them to keep Social Security strong.

AARP activists played a pivotal role in defeating the SSA’s proposed phone cuts, said AARP’s Hishta, and will continue to be influential voices as changes at the agency unfold.

For more than 65 years, AARP has sought to protect Social Security and ensure its future viability. We have fought hard against arbitrary cuts to the cost-of-living adjustment, against congressional proposals to create fiscal commissions that could target Social Security to deal with budget deficits, to prevent turning Social Security’s guaranteed benefits into risky private accounts, and to ensure that those on Social Security could get economic stimulus payments without having to file separately

We have spearheaded efforts to combat SSA’s customer service challenges and advocated for Congress to approve adequate funding for the SSA to deliver benefits and services properly and promptly to its growing number of customers.

We’re continuing that advocacy now.

Visit our Social Security webpage for the latest news. Explore our Navigating Social Security hub for answers to both basic and complicated questions about Social Security. AARP’s Social Security Calculator can provide estimates of future benefit payments and information on how to maximize them.