Top federal agency with history of wasteful spending could be next DOGE target

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) main Elon Musk’s efforts to cleanable up discarded and fraud successful the national authorities volition soon displacement its absorption to the Social Security Administration (SSA) successful a determination apt to make a firestorm with Democrats akin to reactions to the caller measures taken against the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The SSA, created by the Social Security Act nether President Franklin D. Roosevelt successful 1935 and tasked with establishing a national benefits strategy for older Americans, volition soon go a absorption of DOGE, according to a study from Semafor that was not denied by the White House erstwhile contacted by Fox News Digital.

While respective Democrats — including Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., successful a post connected X — person been speedy to impeach this determination arsenic being aimed astatine slashing Social Security benefits for the elderly, respective areas with imaginable discarded beryllium successful the bureau that don’t impact cutting existent benefits. 

Just Facts, a nonprofit probe institute, previously reported that the bureau disbursed astir $2 cardinal successful fraudulent oregon improper payments successful 2022, which it calculated was capable "to wage 89,947 retired workers the mean yearly old-age payment of $21,924 for 2023."

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Elon Musk's DOGE efforts are acceptable to absorption connected Social Security. (Getty Images)

Just Facts explained that done a argumentation known arsenic "administrative finality," erstwhile the "SSA mistakenly overpays a beneficiary for much than 4 years, it does not retrieve past overpayments and deliberately continues to marque aboriginal overpayments excepting cases of fraud."

The SSA sent astir 7,000 national employees disablement benefits successful 2008 portion they were inactive taking wages from national jobs, according to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The GAO estimated that astir 1,500 of those individuals "may person improperly received benefits" since their wages went beyond maximum income thresholds. The GAO probe besides recovered that implicit 71,000 "stimulus checks" were sent by the Obama medication to radical who were deceased, including 63,481 radical whose deaths had been antecedently reported to the agency.

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Musk's squad has moved to slash USAID's $40 cardinal spending budget. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

"Social Security volition not beryllium touched, it volition lone beryllium strengthened," President Donald Trump said during a property league connected Friday. "We person amerciable immigrants connected Social Security and we're going to find retired who they are and instrumentality them out."

Trump added, "We're going to fortify our Social Security, etc. We're not going to interaction it different than to marque it stronger. But we person radical that shouldn't beryllium on, and those radical we person to weed out, astir of them, oregon galore of them, truthful far, person been amerciable immigrants."

On Friday afternoon, White House Principal Deputy Communications Director Alex Pfeiffer posted a report connected X from the Center for Immigration Studies successful 2021 that said, "We estimation that determination are 2.65 cardinal amerciable immigrants with Social Security numbers."

Trump added that DOGE volition spell done "everything" erstwhile it comes to discarded and fraud successful the national government.

In a connection to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the SSA said, "We stay focused and vigilant connected the integrity of our programs and instrumentality earnestly our responsibilities to deter fraud, waste, and abuse."

The Social Security Administration was created by the Social Security Act nether President Franklin D. Roosevelt successful 1935. (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)

DOGE has dominated quality headlines implicit the past week arsenic Musk's squad has moved to slash USAID's $40 cardinal spending fund and enactment connected permission the immense bulk of its employees, arsenic photos of the motion astatine the doorway of the agency's Washington, D.C., office being taken down person circulated connected societal media.

Musk has said that some helium and Trump "agreed" that the bureau should beryllium "shut down." Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been named acting manager of the autarkic agency, connected Monday echoed the sentiment, telling reporters, "USAID is not functioning."

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"It needs to beryllium aligned with the nationalist involvement of the U.S. They're not a planetary charity, these are payer dollars. People are asking elemental questions. What are they doing with the money?" Rubio continued. "We are spending taxpayers’ money. We beryllium the taxpayers assurances that it furthers our nationalist interest."

Democrats held a rally extracurricular the Treasury Department earlier this week blasting the DOGE efforts arsenic a menace to democracy. 

"Elon Musk is simply a Nazi nepo baby, a godless lawless billionaire, who nary 1 elected," Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said astatine a rally, sparking pushback from conservatives connected societal media.

"Elon, this is the American people. This is not your trashy Cybertruck that you tin conscionable dismantle, prime apart, and merchantability the pieces of."

Fox News Digital's Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.