By FATIMA HUSSEIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Social Security Administration is preparing to lay off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000, according to a person familiar with the agency’s plans who is not authorized to speak publicly. The workforce reduction, according to a second person who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, could be as high as 50%.

It’s unclear how the layoffs will directly impact the benefits of the 72.5 million Social Security beneficiaries, which include retirees and children who receive retirement and disability benefits. However, advocates and Democratic lawmakers warn that layoffs will reduce the agency’s ability to serve recipients in a timely manner.

Some say cuts to the workforce are, in effect, a cut in benefits.

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Later Friday, the agency sent out a news release outlining plans for “significant workforce reductions,” employee reassignments from “non-mission critical positions to mission critical direct service positions,” and an offer of voluntary separation agreements. The agency said in its letter to workers that reassignments “may be involuntary and may require retraining for new workloads.”

The layoffs are part of the Trump administration’s intensified efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce through the Department of Government Efficiency, run by President Donald Trump’s advisor Elon Musk.

A representative from the Social Security Administration did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

The people familiar with the agency’s plans say that SSA’s new acting commissioner Leland Dudek held a meeting this week with management and told them they had to produce a plan that eliminated half of the workforce at SSA headquarters in Washington and at least half of the workers in regional offices.

In addition, the termination of office leases for Social Security sites across the country are detailed on the DOGE website, which maintains a “Wall of Receipts,” which is a self-described “transparent account of DOGE’s findings and actions.” The site states that leases for dozens of Social Security sites across Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, and other states have been or will be ended.

“The Social Security Administration is already chronically understaffed. Now, the Trump Administration wants to demolish it,” said Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for the popular public benefit program.

Altman said the reductions in force “will deny many Americans access to their hard-earned Social Security benefits. Field offices around the country will close. Wait times for the 1-800 number will soar.”

Social Security is one of the nation’s largest and most popular social programs. A January poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that two-thirds of U.S. adults think the country is spending too little on Social Security.

The program faces a looming bankruptcy date if it is not addressed by Congress. The May 2024 Social Security and Medicare trustees’ report states that Social Security’s trust funds — which cover old age and disability recipients — will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2035. Then, Social Security would only be able to pay 83% of benefits.

Like other agencies, DOGE has embedded into the Social Security Administration as part of Trump’s January executive order, which has drawn concerns from career officials.

This month, the Social Security Administration ’s former acting commissioner Michelle King stepped down from her role at the agency after DOGE requested access to Social Security recipient information, according to two people familiar with the official’s departure who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement that “a plan like this will result in field office closures that will hit seniors in rural communities the hardest.”

Other news organizations, including The American Prospect and The Washington Post, have reported that half of the Social Security Administration’s workforce could be on the chopping block.

RED WING, Minn. — Red Wing Public Schools canceled an event that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison was scheduled to appear at after notifying families there were “concerns over significant disruptions.”

The event was scheduled to take place Thursday until Superintendent Bob Jaszczak informed staff and parents about the cancellation in an email. The event was scheduled in celebration of Black History Month.

“While this specific event will not move forward, our commitment to uplifting the voices and experiences of our most marginalized students remains steadfast,” Jaszczak said in his email. “Black History Month is a time to reflect, learn, and engage in meaningful dialogue, and we encourage our community to continue these important conversations in other spaces.”

The district’s communications manager, Anne Robertson, said “the email stands for itself.”

Press secretary Brian Evans said Keith Ellison’s office didn’t have a comment about the cancellation of the event.

The Red Wing Police Department said it had not received any police reports from the school district about the event’s cancellation.

The cancellation came just a day after Ellison was named in a White House memo titled “Sick politicians want killers, rapists roaming our streets.” The memo said Ellison warned local law enforcement of “liability if they enforce immigration detainers.”

Ellison’s office has become an increasingly visible buffer between Minnesota and the federal government over the last month as the Trump administration continues to roll out its initiatives.

On Feb. 20, Ellison issued a statement saying that “barring students from participating in extracurricular activities consistent with their gender identity would violate the Minnesota Human Rights Act.” On Feb. 21, his office issued another statement saying it had stopped “Elon Musk and DOGE from accessing Americans’ private information and cutting federal funds.”

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Texas Observer readers,

A half-century ago, Molly Ivins penned one of her many famous lines about the Lege in a special Texas issue of The Atlantic Monthly. 

“The Texas Legislature consists of 181 people who meet for 140 days once every two years,” she wrote. “This catastrophe has now occurred sixty-three times.”

The number of lawmakers, the frequency of sessions, and the catastrophic nature of their work all remain unchanged. In other words, swap “sixty-three” for “eighty-nine” and the quip could be published now.

These old lines of Ivins’ speak to the biannual dread progressive-minded Texans feel, perhaps grown only more intense today, as part-time legislators from all reaches of the state descend again on Austin to brainstorm new ways to attack LGBTQ+ residents, hamstring liberal city councils, and invent new crimes through which to further pack our prisons—and, of course, to rack up favors owed by sundry special interests to be paid after sine die.

The thought inevitably emerges: Maybe someone could convince them to meet even less often. Quadrennial, anyone? Or perhaps we could just call this whole legislative-branch thing off.

But, understandable as it is, I think there’s something troubling in this sentiment.

Like it or not (emphasis on the not), we need the Legislature. Even this cursed 89th iteration. Essential and even good things can only be done by these 180-ish individuals. And as they set fires in our public schools, in our cities, and in our homes, progressive reformers must nevertheless skirt the flames and, behind the smoke screen, push marginal improvements and harm reduction.

A few measures stand out to me, all covered in recent Observer reporting, as fixes that should be doable even for our current legislative body: pay raises for teachers, untethered to school privatization; sorely needed raises for other state employees; clarification of the exception to the state’s abortion ban; addressing the state’s future water supply; reducing border security spending; legalization of fentanyl test strips; strengthening the “junk science” law; and requiring transparency from state agencies around artificial intelligence and surveillance.

That’s no exhaustive list. But I hope it demonstrates that there is realistic change to be made. The Observer has been making a point, and will continue to do so, of investigating policy areas where there is at least some chance of bipartisan reform. That isn’t all we do—we must also keep our eyes on longer horizons—but it’s a crucial way for us to use our limited resources.

You’ll see some of this work in our current print issue—including Justin Miller’s feature on the contracting bonanza that is Operation Lone Star—along with more of it in our January/February issue and even more online, where every one of our stories is free to all.

Yours in catastrophe,

Note: To receive our print magazine, become a member here.

The post Editor’s Letter: Introducing Our March/April 2025 Issue appeared first on The Texas Observer.

By SETH BORENSTEIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees on probationary status were fired Thursday, lawmakers and weather experts said.

Federal workers who were not let go said the afternoon layoffs included meteorologists who do crucial local forecasts in National Weather Service offices across the country.

Cuts at NOAA appeared to be happening in two rounds, one of 500 and one of 800, said Craig McLean, a former NOAA chief scientist who said he got the information from someone with first-hand knowledge. That’s about 10% of NOAA’s workforce.

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The first round of cuts were probationary employees, McLean said. There are about 375 probationary employees in the National Weather Service — where day-to-day forecasting and hazard warning is done.

The firings come amid efforts by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to shrink a federal workforce that President Donald Trump has called bloated and sloppy. Thousands of probationary employees across the government have already been fired.

Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., released a statement saying: “Today, hundreds of employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including weather forecasters at the National Weather Service (NWS), were given termination notices for no good reason. This is unconscionable.”

Meng added: “These are dedicated, hardworking Americans whose efforts help save lives and property from the devastating impacts of natural disasters across the country. This action will only endanger American lives going forward.”

Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat who is the ranking minority member in the House Natural Resources Committee, also said “hundreds of scientists and experts at NOAA” were let go.

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said on social media that the job cuts “are spectacularly short-sighted, and ultimately will deal a major self-inflicted wound to the public safety of Americans and the resiliency of the American economy to weather and climate-related disasters.”