Last month, Social Security turned 90 years old. Unlike many New Deal programs, it wasn’t just a short-term fix while the economy turned around. It provided stability for aging, disabled, and unemployed Americans when it was passed, and it established our best long-term tool to fight poverty.
Today it’s a cherished, protected part of Americans’ lives. Officials across the political spectrum have kept the program’s promise to seniors and people who no longer have the ability to work that they can retire and thrive with dignity.
Now that promise is under siege.
The Trump administration has proposed changes to the way Social Security is provided that are already harming seniors, preventing workers from helping them, and degrading vital lifelines.
The administration has made the largest staffing cut in Social Security’s history, indiscriminately cutting more than 7,000 positions, including those with the most experience and knowledge. The staffing changes to Social Security have left the commonwealth and 45 other states with fewer field staff between March 2024 and 2025. As of this past March, there were over 2,700 Social Security workers in Pennsylvania.
Since taking office in January 2025, President Trump has issued a series of unlawful executive orders, and taken several unlawful actions, seeking to shut down congressionally mandated agencies, fire and displace federal workers, outlaw their unions, and gut merit systems protections.
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A federal judge has ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to reinstate the union contract covering 320,000 VA employees represented by AFGE in a major victory over the implementation of President Trump’s union-busting executive orders.
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As the Department of Homeland Security shutdown reaches the one-month mark with no end in sight, AFGE leaders are calling on Congress to ensure all DHS workers are paid.
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