Jack Smalligan
@jsmalligan.bsky.social
Senior Policy Fellow at the Urban Institute. Analyze disability, retirement and paid leave policy. Served 27 years in the Office of Management and Budget.
For anyone who is following trends in the SSDI and SSI programs, we have a great new resource: wittenburgconsulting.com/ssa-data-hub The website pulls data from a host of SSA sites, shows trends and provide links to the original SSA data site. Check it out!
Social Security Disability Data Hub
Making public SSA disability data easier to find, read, and use.
wittenburgconsulting.com
A new proposal from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) would create caps on the maximum Social Security benefit, raising serious issues. In this short piece I examine the proposal. www.urban.org/urban-wire/s...
Social Security Needs Reform, but Capping Benefits and Indexing to Inflation Could Do More Harm Than Good
Combining dollar cutoffs with indexing changes fundamentally alters the structure and philosophy that have guided the Social Security program for the past 90…
urban.org
Accessing disability benefits at the Social Security Administration has gotten more difficult since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to new qualitative research. www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...
Accessing Social Security disability benefits became harder in 2025, researchers find
Changes like the push to online servicing and introduction of AI on SSA phone lines made it difficult for certain recipients to access the agency.
nextgov.com
Trump and Vought are now breaking both sides of spending law. They’re illegally not spending where the law requires them to spend, and they’re illegally spending where they don’t have the money to spend. What we have is an appropriations king. Spending “deals” are meaningless under that setup.
The Wa Post has issued an important story on an upcoming major SSA disability regulation that would especially affect older disabled workers: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202... 1/2
Trump plan would limit disability benefits for older Americans
Trump administration officials are considering eliminating age as a factor in deciding whether someone is capable of working.
washingtonpost.com
🧵 Big changes may be coming to disability benefits. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is preparing a rule that could reshape how eligibility is determined for SSDI and SSI. Here’s what you need to know—and why it matters. www.urban.org/research/pub...
The Administration has taken credit for a substantial drop in the Social Security disability claims backlog. In this piece I explore the concerning factors behind this drop, including fewer new applications and more denials. www.urban.org/urban-wire/s...
The SSA Says It’s Reduced the Disability Claims Backlog. Fewer New Claims and a Higher Denial Rate Could Be Driving the Reduction
To better understand what’s driving a decrease in claims and increase in denials, the Social Security Administration could invest more in the research and st…
urban.org
My new op-ed! “The pocket rescission is just a beacon meant to draw our attention. Trump wants us to focus on the foreign aid impoundments — a shiny object he’s illegally deleting via a pocket rescission — so that we forget about the quiet impoundments of cancer research and preschool funding.”
Why a judge shut down Trump's latest budget stunt
A president can’t sign something into law and then immediately ignore parts of it. But that’s exactly what Trump is doing.
msnbc.com
People have been debating and worried about the Social Security Trust Fund shortfall for decades. It's widely seen as an enormous fiscal challenge. One Big Beautiful Bill's tax cuts' permanent cost is actually *larger* than the Social Security Trust Fund shortfall.
The House reconciliation bill includes a provision that could keep many thousands of individuals from receiving EITC. This little noticed provision requires IRS to precertify millions of individuals for EITC. See this piece from Janet Holtzblatt. taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/one-b...
One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s EITC Precertification Requirement Could Delay Refunds
With precertification, many eligible taxpayers would have to wait longer for their EITC, causing financial hardships in the meantime--if they get it all.
taxpolicycenter.org
The rescissions request is out. This is very real. As with reconciliation, this is filibuster-proof, meaning that there is no Senate cloture vote, and Republicans can pass it even with all Dems opposed. The White House is calling to cut global health programs, condemning people to die.
The crisis at SSA since January 20 is impacting people. Individual claims for retirement benefits are up 13 percent compared with this time last year, an increase of more than 276,000 claims. In this piece Chantel Boyens and I examine the development. 1/4 www.urban.org/urban-wire/m...
More Americans Are Filing for Retirement Benefits Earlier—Their Long-Term Retirement Security Could Suffer as a Result
Claiming Social Security early reduces a person’s monthly benefit and can threaten their and their families’ economic security in the long term.
urban.org
An important thread.
Chye-Ching Huang@dashching.bsky.social · last yr.THREAD: the Ways & Means bill creates new opportunities for tax avoidance and evasion, adds complexity to the tax system, and increases filing burdens for low- & moderate-income families. My @taxlawcenter.org colleagues have more analysis coming, but here's a starter list (suggestions welcome):
The FY 2026 President’s Budget level for the Social Security Administration (SSA) represents a second year of essentially flat funding for SSA’s core operations, even as costs and rates of claiming increase, making the proposed level a cut in real terms. 1/5
he's drawing a line! he's okay with the largest medicaid cuts in history, but not the super duper largest medicaid cuts in history 😤
Bobby Kogan@bbkogan.bsky.social · last yr.losing my mind here! $500 billion would still be by far the largest medicaid cuts in us history! “moderate” don bacon says he’s okay with the largest medicaid cuts ever. they just can’t be an even bigger version of the largest medicaid cuts ever
Former Social Security Administration leaders have warned that staffing reductions and computer outages could make SSA more vulnerable to a short interruption in benefits. Urban Institute experts modeled this scenario: www.urban.org/urban-wire/d...
Disruptions to Social Security Checks Would Leave 6 Million Beneficiaries Unable to Make Ends Meet
Staffing cuts at the Social Security Administration after years of underfunding could disrupt the delivery of Social Security benefit checks, which would expose millions of Americans to financial hard...
urban.org
in total, the republican judiciary bill would give $73 billion to ICE over 5 years - a 140% increase annual increase in ICE funding above its current level of $10.5 per year $9 billion for ICE agents, $14.4 billion for deportations, $45 billion for detention facilities, $5 billion for other stuff
The National Academy of Social Insurance’s Task Force on AI, Emerging Tech and Disability Benefits has released its Phase One Report. With so much focus on using AI at the Social Security Administration this report is very timely. 1/2 www.nasi.org/pressrelease...
National Academy Task Force on AI, Emerging Tech & Disability Benefits Releases First Report -
National Academy Task Force on AI, Emerging Tech & Disability Benefits Releases First Report
nasi.org
The Trump Administration’s use of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File for immigration enforcement undermines the integrity and solvency of Social Security. Here is an assessment from Tara Watson and me. See next post on a piece from CBPP. www.brookings.edu/articles/imm...
Immigrants and the Social Security death master file
Adding immigrants to the Social Security death master file undermines both the integrity and the solvency of the Social Security system.
brookings.edu
This happens every single time with DOGE. Each “revelation” at Social Security has been at best an elementary misunderstanding, at worst a slanderous lie. Either way, we cannot trust these people with our sensitive data & vital benefits.
Rachel Maddow@maddow.bsky.social · last yr.“This is yet another example of a DOGE ‘report’ misunderstanding this data at best, blatantly mischaracterizing this data at worst.” www.nytimes.com/2025/04/12/u...
The NYT and WaPost report the Trump Administration is erroneously adding immigrants to what is known as the “death master file” who are not deceased and have legally obtained an SSN. The Social Security Administration has accepted an initial list of about 6,000 immigrants. 1/5
Republicans have signaled their intent to break all budget rules in the Senate by inventing their own cost estimates on the spot. This would be many steps towards nuking the filibuster - and you may as well repeal the entire Congressional Budget Act at that point. Thread explaining it would work
My new op-ed w/Jason Fichtner: The Social Security Administration is in crisis, and people’s benefits are at risk. We do not say this lightly. We both served in senior roles at SSA — one of us under a Democratic president and the other under a Republican. thehill.com/opinion/5220...
thehill.com
If you are trying to follow all the Trump actions regarding Social Security, this piece is a must read. The authors explain why the actions and attacks on the program put SSA and its beneficiaries at risk. www.cbpp.org/sites/defaul...
cbpp.org
There’s been a lot of talk recently about cutting funding and staffing at the IRS. New work from the Budget Lab shows that if the IRS shrinks by 50% we estimate that this would result in 350 billion net forgone revenue over the 10-year budget window. 1/ @budgetlab.bsky.social
The Trump Social Security Admin leaders are taking another step backwards. Lisa Rein @FedGirlWaPo reports that they plan to require millions to file for benefits in person. Plenty of rigorous research that shows new administrative obstacles reduces program participation.
The Senate has passed the deeply flawed House R funding bill. It’s far from “clean”— but the single most important fact now is this: The CR has set in law full-year funding levels that make clear the Administration's impoundments & mass firings remain illegal. Period.
Sharon Parrott@sharonparrott.bsky.social · last yr.The House CR is deeply problematic – but one of the very worst parts of the CR is it would force immediate cuts in the DC budget -- to police, schools, transportation & more.
One thing everyone should understand is that DOGE has created the least efficient conditions for government I've ever seen. *The working conditions are chaotic. *No clear sense of who works there. *Routine processes have been stopped. *No planning can take place. *People are incredibly demoralized.
Kathleen Bachynski@bachynski.bsky.social · last yr.“Nobody feels like their job is safe. Everyone is on edge,” said Kim Hasenkrug, an NIH scientist emeritus… “Even the top people can’t keep track because they’re hiring and firing so much. Direct supervisors of those who were terminated didn’t even know that it was happening.”
Every year, we debate the funding levels for about 1/3 of the budget. How much is NASA gonna get this year? What about NIH? How about the EPA? When we do an omnibus or a CR, we’re working on that 1/3 or the budget. Reconciliation is largely about seeking to change the remaining 2/3 of the budget.
Bobby Kogan@bbkogan.bsky.social · last yr.And I should clarify that the reconciliation debate going on is unrelated to the bad CR that just passed. The reconciliation bill is seeking to cut taxes & change “mandatory” funding for programs like Medicaid and SNAP. The CR set “discretionary” funding levels for the programs we re-up every year.
