SYRACUSE, N.Y. — According to Senator Chuck Schumer, 4 million New York State seniors, people with disabilities and families who rely on their monthly checks are endangered by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Schumer said that in the past month, the Social Security Administration website has crashed four times in 10 days, preventing people from accessing their accounts and forcing seniors to wait more than two hours to speak with someone on the phone.
According to him, $7 billion in Social Security Payments are sent to New Yorkers every month. In Onondaga County, there are 115,000 people who receive $200 million a month.
Schumer’s warning comes as the Department of Government Efficiency and the Social Security Administration announced plans to cut 7,000 people through layoffs and other means.
“It’s clear why DOGE is doing this. They can’t cut benefits outwardly because that would be so unpopular, so they’re trying to kill social security another way, making it harder, sometimes next to impossible to access your benefits,” Schumer said.
According to DOGE website, cuts to the SSA rank sixth in a “leaderboard” of where savings are being made. The website said that as of March 24, an estimated $130 billion has been saved through cuts.