Martin O’Malley, the former head of the Social Security Administration, issued a grim warning to people who depend on the federal program, as he spoke about how it was being affected by the DOGE and its mass firings.
While the Department of Government Efficiency was tasked with cutting out unnecessary/ excessive spending, its recent moves have affected the program, which has been functioning smoothly and securely for decades now.
Having functioned stably for over 8 decades while ensuring that monthly benefits were dispatched on time, O’Malley predicted that the system would implode within 1 to 3 months, as payments have reportedly been disrupted for close to 72 million Americans.
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O’Malley while warning Social Security dependents of its imminent collapse, suggested that they “should start saving now.”
“Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits. I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days. People should start saving now,” said Martin O’Malley.
Previously, the Ex-Social Security Head appeared before Congress to express his concerns, urging for the modernization of the system and warning that the DOGE firings would lead to manpower shortage, office closures, and technical failures.
He predicted that there might be more “intermittent IT outages” until the system would inevitably “collapse,” leading to “an interruption of benefits.”
Martin O’Malley also warned Congress members, who had enabled the Department of Government Efficiency to downsize and disrupt federal programs like Social Security, of the possibility of dependents “bringing a lot of heat” to them for their role in “interruption of earned benefits.”
“Those intermittent IT outages may happen more frequently and for more extended periods of time until there is a system collapse and an interruption of benefits. People are going to start bringing a lot of heat to members of Congress who have been enabling the destruction of Social Security and the interruption of earned benefits. These are earned benefits,” O’Malley said.
Martin O’Malley’s warning comes a month after Michelle King, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, stepped down following a dispute with the DOGE over its demands to access and peruse sensitive data.
🚨 BREAKING: Michelle King resigned from her position as the Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) amid a dispute with DOGE.
King, who had served over 30 years at the SSA, left after she refused to provide DOGE staff with access to data they… pic.twitter.com/HsXZBdQeUO
— Publius (@OcrazioCornPop) February 18, 2025
The Donald Trump Administration has tapped Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano to replace King as the new commissioner. Given that Bisignano is yet to be confirmed by the Senate, Leland Dudek, a longtime SSA employee, is serving as the acting commissioner.
Upon taking office, Leland Dudek met with management to inform them that he had produced a proposal to cut the Social Security Administration’s workforce by half in Washington and that at least half of its regional office staff would be let go as well.
