Millions of Americans receiving Social Security benefits faced delays because of widespread backlogs in 2025, according to a new report from The Washington Post.

A Social Security Administration (SSA) spokesperson disputed the report in a statement to Newsweek, writing: “The Washington Post piece is full of Pinocchios. Social Security provided multiple on the record statements to refute the fake news, but the Washington Post would rather fearmonger seniors than print the truth. An independent OIG audit proved that the Social Security Administration has made profound customer service improvements as a result of technology and staffing decisions. Under President Trump’s leadership, Social Security is serving more people faster and better than before, and SSA will remain undeterred by politically-driven propaganda peddled by the Post.”

Why It Matters

Nearly 75 million Americans rely on Social Security as part of their retirement, according to a report the SSA released in November. The program provides critical retirement, survivor and disability benefits to those recipients.

While the program remains broadly popular among Americans, it has faced questions about its future and has undergone changes since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, particularly amid cuts made through the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier this year.

What To Know

The Post on Tuesday published a report raising concerns about the state of Social Security, citing “dozens” of internal agency documents and interviews. The report comes as the program remains a sticking point in Washington. Most Democrats have remained staunchly opposed to cutting the program, but some Republicans have warned that changes are necessary to keep it solvent past the 2030s.

Cuts to the federal workforce this year have included thousands who worked at Social Security offices. The cuts have contributed to SSA backlogs as employees have struggled to respond to “up to 6 million pending cases in its processing centers and 12 million transactions in its field offices,” according to the report.

The SSA spokesperson said the characterization of the cases as a backlog is “false and incredibly misleading” and that there are actually 1.9 million pending field office claims.

“‘Transactions’ are not the same as backlogged cases, as ‘transactions’ are claims processed by employees and not in need of pending action,” the statement reads.

John Pfannenstein, a claims specialist and president of Local 3937 of the American Federation of Government Employees, told the publication that cracks are “more than beginning to show.”

SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano told the Post that the administration will “continue our digital-first approach to further enhance customer service by introducing new service features and functionality across each of our service channels to better meet the needs of the more than 330 million Americans with Social Security numbers.”

Some concerns center around the amount of time it takes for recipients to be called back. Millions of callers requesting callbacks were counted as zero-minute waits, the Post reported.

The report also outlined how some workers have become overwhelmed amid cuts and restructuring. In Wyoming, for instance, field offices have only 18 employees for every 7,429 recipients, according to the report. Meanwhile, other tasks, including Medicare applications and certain disability claims that require vetting, have also backed up.

An SSA inspector general report of telephone service metrics this month found that its “overall telephone service performance improved in FY 2025.”

What People Are Saying

A Social Security Administration spokesperson told Newsweek: “As we explained in the End of Year letter to Congress [ssa.gov] that we shared with the Washington Post, when the Commissioner was sworn in, there were 6.2 million pending actions as of the beginning of June in our processing centers. By the end of the fiscal year, SSA reduced the number of cases pending by more than one million, or almost 20 percent. Today, there are 850,000 less pending actions in the processing centers compared to the same time last year, which contrary to the assertions in the article, demonstrates improvement.”

Rich Couture, president of American Federation of Government Employees’ SSA committee, told The Guardian in April: “You’re going to see a wholesale collapse in the agency’s service structure. Call wait times will skyrocket, wait times for appointments, processing times, all of it going to skyrocket because there won’t be enough people to do the jobs, which opens the door to privatization.”

What Happens Next

Social Security remains a challenge that Americans will face over the coming years as lawmakers work to prevent the program from going insolvent.