Senator Elizabeth Warren‘s office has released a fact-check disputing five claims made by the Trump administration about Social Security.
In a report shared exclusively with Newsweek, the Massachusetts Democrat’s Social Security “War Room” accused the administration of spreading “lies and misleading statements” about the program and argued that President Donald Trump’s policies have weakened the SSA.
The fact-check report responds to an August 14 White House release defending Trump’s record on Social Security. Warren’s office says the administration’s claims misrepresent the effects of recent legislation and SSA operational changes.
Her War Room was created earlier this year following several major changes made to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and its services during President Trump‘s second term.
Since the Trump administration began in January, the federal agency has undergone a plethora of reforms aimed at streamlining services and “strengthening” the program, which distributes benefits to more than 70 million Americans.
But the changes have become a sticking point for some Democrats who have accused the current administration of mismanagement, warning that staffing reductions, new technologies and customer service changes could potentially hamper the distribution of benefits and services.
Newsweek has contacted the SSA and White House for comment via email outside of regular working hours.
Tax Relief for Seniors
The White House said that under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s mega spending bill that passed Congress earlier this year, the “vast majority” of seniors would no longer pay taxes on Social Security income.
The legislation, dubbed “no tax on Social Security” creates a new expanded $6,000 standard deduction for seniors aged 65 and older between 2025 and 2028. Though the measure doesn’t directly change how Social Security benefits are federally taxed, it may indirectly shield more of that income from federal taxes for lower- and middle-income retirees.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, in July, the White House said Monday that, under the bill, 51.4 million seniors (88 percent of all seniors receiving Social Security income) will not pay any tax on their benefits income as a result of the change.
“This amounts to the largest tax break in history for America’s seniors, and makes sure that after years of earning their Social Security, seniors can save more of their money,” the White House said in a July 1 statement.
The Social Security War Room has countered that the law “does not amend, reduce, or eliminate the federal taxation of Social Security benefits.” Instead, it provides a temporary tax deduction that benefits fewer than half of older Americans.
Stock image/file photo: SSA logo at a field office.
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Call Volumes and Wait Times
The administration said the SSA was “handling 70 percent more calls than last year, while lowering the average speed of answer by 80 percent, from 30 minutes to just six minutes.”
Warren’s office argues that the data does not support those numbers. SSA’s own performance dashboard shows that call volumes increased only about 25 percent year-over-year, not 70 percent. The “70 percent” figure refers only to one specific week in July 2025 compared to the same week a year earlier.
On wait times, Warren’s office cited an investigation that found customers were on hold for an average of 102 minutes, nearly an hour and 45 minutes, compared with SSA’s published claim of 12 minutes. Some callers, the release said, waited as long as three hours.
Warren’s office also criticized the administration’s calculation of an “80 percent” reduction in wait times, arguing that it cherry-picked older 2024 data that reflected the highest seasonal call volume. The SSA had since changed its technology system, which reduced wait times from around 40 minutes to roughly 12 to 13 minutes in late 2024. By excluding this context, Warren’s office said, the Trump administration painted a misleading picture.
A spokesperson for the SSA told Newsweek: “National 800 Number callers have a shorter average wait time to speak with an agent. Our average speed of answer in July 2024 was 24 minutes and our answer rate was 63 percent. In July 2025, the National 800 Number average speed of answer reduced to 8 minutes and our answer rate increased to 78 percent.”
They said the SSA uses the “same long-standing agency methodology to measure Average Speed of Answer (ASA) data.”
“For customers who choose to wait in the queue for an agent, it is the total time spent in queue divided by the number of calls answered by agents,” they explained. “For customers who choose the convenience of a callback, we count only the time the customer waited in queue before electing a callback divided by the number of callbacks answered by agents. The combined result is the average speed of answer.”
Staffing of Field Offices
The White House said in August: “All field offices are fully staffed, with employees returning to the office five days a week for the first time in years to better serve the American people.”
However, Warren’s office rejected this claim, saying the administration made “unprecedented cuts” to the SSA workforce. According to the War Room, Social Security offices lost about 20 percent of their staff, which has caused delays in service and lowered staff morale. In February, the agency said it planned to cut workforce numbers from 57,000 down to 50,000.
“The agency plans to reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure, with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services,” the SSA said at the time.
The War Room also argued that the administration reassigned thousands of customer service representatives away from field offices, a move that, according to Warren’s office, could “further drain field offices and create even longer wait times for Americans.”
Technology Improvements
The Trump administration has claimed the SSA had made “vast technology improvements,” which Warren’s office has said is inaccurate, describing the rollouts as “haphazard” and poorly tested, and that the has administration “failed to adhere to basic IT modernization guidelines” and did not properly inform Congress about its AI programs.
In spring 2025, SSA introduced an anti-fraud algorithm that was later abandoned. According to a June 2025 letter by Warren to Commissioner Frank Bisignano, the system flagged only two potentially fraudulent claims out of more than 110,000, and slowed claims processing by 25 percent.
The administration also recently introduced an AI-based chatbot feature on SSA’s 1-800 number. Warren’s office said this system created new obstacles: callers being disconnected or unable to reach a live agent, while others received answers to questions they had not asked.
Cost Savings and Fraud Prevention
The White House has claimed the SSA saved more than $1 billion this year through efficiencies and addressed “billions of dollars in improper payments.” But Warren’s office disputed this, saying it lacked evidence.
The release also criticized the Trump administration for “consistently peddled lies about Social Security fraud.”
In March, Trump and former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk claimed millions of people listed as being over 100 years in a Social Security database were still receiving benefits, which was later proved to be untrue.
In a statement issued on March 5, the SSA explained: “The data reported in the media represent people who do not have a date of death associated with their record. While these people may not be receiving benefits, it is important for the agency to maintain accurate and complete records.”
According to government data, in the 2024 fiscal year improper payments (payments that are either too high or too low) to beneficiaries amounted to only 0.3 percent. Warren’s office said that SSA’s “anti-fraud checks” flagged less than 1 percent of claims as potentially fraudulent and instead delayed processing legitimate benefits.
Have you or someone you know experienced any positive or negative changes in SSA services since January? Do you agree with the Trump administration’s overhaul of the SSA? Get in touch with a.higham@newsweek.com