On Tuesday’s National Day of Action for Social Security, elders in Brooklyn Heights chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, Trump and Musk have got to go.” Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — New York City seniors and disabled rallied Tuesday at Social Security offices across the city to demand that Elon Musk and Donald Trump “keep their hands off” the agency and their benefits.
The rallies were part of a National Day of Action for Social Security, triggered by chaotic cuts to agency personnel, the planned closure of dozens of field offices, and data breaches that threaten highly personal information.
More than 70 million people in the U.S. receive benefits. The Social Security Administration has never missed a regular payment since it began in 1935, and — up until now — had a track record of accuracy and efficiency matching or exceeding private industry. Since Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency incursions, however, recipients say phones are going unanswered, the website is glitching and they live in fear.
In front of the Bushwick Field Office on Flushing Avenue, Rep. Nydia Velázquez joined elected officials and recipients in a defiant rally. Cuts to Social Security would be devastating for her district, NY-07, where 83,532 residents, including thousands of children, rely on the monthly benefit, she said.
“Social Security is a lifeline, not a luxury,” Velázquez said. “It belongs to the people who paid into it—not to politicians, not to billionaires. And we won’t stand by while Elon Musk and Donald Trump try to tear it down.”
In lower Manhattan outside the 12th Street Social Security office, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-10) joined disability advocate Michael Schweinsburg, local officials and recipients.
“From closing Social Security field offices to gutting administration staff and forcing seniors to travel long distances to do routine paperwork in person, Donald Trump, Elon Musk and their DOGE hatchet men are putting insurmountable obstacles between New York seniors and the benefits they’re entitled to,” Goldman said. He called on his Republican colleagues “to grow a spine and demand these cuts be reversed immediately.”
In Albany, New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of 20 attorneys general filed an amicus brief in American Association of People with Disabilities v. Dudek, seeking to block the staff layoffs implemented by Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek and DOGE.
Seniors losing sleep in Brooklyn Heights
On Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, roughly 30 seniors and disabled gathered in front of the Social Security Administration office and chanted to the beat of a drum, “Who pays taxes? We pay taxes!” and “Hey hey, ho ho, Trump and Musk have got to go!”
“I didn’t sleep last night thinking about all of the stuff that’s coming down on us right now,” Ellen Weinstat said. “Those of us out here who are living on Social Security, and depending on Social Security, and who paid for Social Security our whole working lives, we just want our Social Security. We are not disposable.”
“If I can’t get to my Social Security, I can’t live, I can’t pay my bills,” Heights resident Chris Fowley told the Brooklyn Eagle. “If they paused it just one month, I’d have to dip into the little bit of savings I have.”
“What Trump and Elon Musk are doing is 100% wrong,” Maryann Torres said. “They need to keep their hands off Social Security. We paid into Social Security, it’s not a handout.”
Jessica (no last name given) was holding a sign reading “Code 3.5.” The number stands for a statistic uncovered by Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, where she researched dozens of revolts that successfully overthrew tyrants over the last 100 years.
“Chenoweth found that, statistically speaking, if 3.5% of a population consistently, persistently and non-violently rises up and dissents, they can overthrow a tyrant,” Jessica said.
Applied early just to get in the system
One man said he applied earlier for benefits than he had originally intended to because of fear of what Trump would do — causing him to lose money he would have received if he had held out.
“I applied for Social Security after November 5 of last year because I saw which way the wind was blowing,” Ken Thomas, a Heights resident, told the Eagle. “Now, with this government takeover … You know, I’m getting too old to work. I will lose money with my monthly payment from Social Security, but I feel like at least I’m in the system. I feel bad for the people who are 50, 60 years old now. What are they going to look forward to?”
Former Social Security staffer and Heights resident Ernie (no last name given) retired in 1990. Ernie believes Musk’s service cuts are going to hurt the agency.
“I’m reading it could take hours to get through to make an appointment,” he told the Eagle. “Even 10 years ago there might be a long wait on the phone to make an appointment. It’s going to be worse now. I understand they’ve abandoned the teleservice centers that you could call and ask questions.”
“Trump and Musk has to go,” said Fay (no last name given). “We work and pay our taxes, and we pay into Social Security. Tax the billionaires, not the poor people.”
Fay read a passage she said made a big impression on her. “They come for the Jews; they come for the Blacks and Latina and the Asians. They come for the gays and the trans. They come for the disabled, they come for the vets. We must come together united as one.”
‘99% of SS payments made correctly’
Trump administration officials have released a stream of (since-disproven) statements about waste and fraud in the Social Security system, including the claim that numerous “dead” people are receiving benefits. Vice President JD Vance recently declared that 40% of the people who call Social Security on the phone are “committing fraud, ” a statement with no basis in fact, the Washington Post reports. Less than one percent of total benefits paid between 2015 and 2022 were improper, according to SSA’s Inspector General’s Office.
Heights resident Bill Closs started as a claims representative at the Borough Hall Social Security office 50 years ago, and was later promoted to the agency’s Regional Office in New York. Closs said the assessments he personally carried out came to the conclusion that 99% of Social Security payments are made correctly.
“My job was to do a random sampling and find out if the random sample was overpaid or underpaid, and [either way] assign a cause — either administrative- or beneficiary-caused error,” he told the Eagle.
“The payment accuracy rate of Social Security has always been over 99% of the money paid correctly. And the mantra at Social Security — and I think it’s even written down — is, ‘Pay the right amount to the right person at the right time.’ And that was what you were always trying to do every day.”
Closs said the Social Security administration has always been known for, and strives to have, good customer service — just as good as private industry. “That was the intent, and it mostly made it,” he said. “They were probably sometimes when it didn’t make it, but private insurance companies have their bad days, too. We always try to compare ourselves to private enterprise.”
Even before the current administration, there was a hiring freeze at the agency, he noted. “In general, they’re struggling to keep up the good customer service that’s part of the culture of Social Security — it really is. There’s been mistakes made, but less than 1% of the time.”
Closs pointed out that SSA’s administrative costs are less than half of 1% of the benefits paid. “Half of 1% in administrative costs. So it’s very efficient and compares with private industry.”
Closs said he attended the rally because he wants to support the remaining employees. “The people who work for Social Security are not in it for the money. Although it is considered a very steady, reliable income, nobody’s getting rich there. You know you are serving the people, and that’s always underlying.”
SSA staffers have probably been under a lot of duress and stress recently, he surmised. “I don’t know what it’s like but it’s probably not so nice, so they need to get a thank you.” He added, “This is worthy of a protest, it really is.”
