The Social Security Administration has announced it has identified more than $800 million in savings for fiscal year 2025 according to a press release.
The largest amount of savings, about $550 million, was in payroll by freezing hiring and drastically cutting back on overtime.
Another $150 million was saved from the information technology systems budget by canceling "nonessential contracts and identifying reductions in other ITS contracts."
Acting SSA Commissioner Lee Dudek said in the statement that the agency has "operated on autopilot" for far too long.
"We have spent billions annually doing the same things the same way, leading to bureaucratic stagnation, inefficiency and a lack of meaningful service improvements," Dudek explained, adding that "it is time to change just that."
The SSA said in the press release that it saved an additional $10 million by making a 70% reduction in travel and that it also halted $15 million in contracts and another $15 million in grants.
There were also smaller savings within the SSA in connection to postage, printing, protective security officers, and property.
As many as 7,000 SSA employees are expected to be fired, according to The Associated Press, as part of the Trump administration's mass firing of federal government workers, especially those in probationary status.
Former SSA Commissioner Martin O'Malley warned that recent cuts at the agency at the hands of the Department of Government Efficiency could cause a "collapse" of the Social Security system "within the next 30 to 90 days" that could lead to "an interruption of benefits," The Hill reported.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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