Rantz Fact Check: Pramila Jayapal says Donald Trump is ‘cutting social security’, but is that true?
Mar 23, 2025, 5:04 AM

President Donald Trump says he won't cut social security. So why does Rep. Pramila Jayapal keep claiming otherwise? (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
Seattle Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal claims President Donald Trump and advisor Elon Musk are “cutting social security.” As is usually the case when dealing with Jayapal, she’s purposefully fearmongering with misinformation.
“So Trump and Elon are now requiring seniors to go in-person for Social Security identity checks … but they鈥檙e also closing dozens of field offices across the country. Here鈥檚 the bottom line: they鈥檙e cutting Social Security,” Jayapal posted on X.
The Squad grandmother’s post is disingenuous 鈥 and that’s being polite.
Out of the 1,230 field offices, 47 are closing. In WA, that place Jayapal pretends to represent, 0 are closing.
Why close? They were small, remote hearing sites that weren’t being used with many of them near open locations.
Bottom line: Jayapal is as bad faith as they come.
鈥 Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz)
What’s really happening with social security?
The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that benefit claimants will no longer be allowed to verify their identity over the phone because the Trump administration is not satisfied that it’s as secure as it should be.
You can, however, verify your identity online or in person.
Pretending that you can’t use the online portal to sign up for social security benefits, Jayapal implies that SSA offices are being shut down to burden Americans who become eligible for benefits starting March 31st.
Forget that Trump has repeatedly said he does not want to gut social security. It’s just a weird claim for Jayapal to make, given that SSA 补濒蝉辞听said it’s expediting processing for direct deposit changes to just one day, instead of the previous 30 days. If Trump wants to withhold federal entitlements, it’s odd that he would expedite the deposits.
But isn’t DOGE closing social security offices?
Jayapal links to a聽狈别飞蝉飞别别办听article noting that while the phone option is going away, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is closing field offices. The implication, again, is that the Trump administration is trying to stop seniors from getting their benefits.
But what Jayapal doesn’t tell you is that only 47 hearing sites are being shuttered because they’re in very remote areas that no one uses. There are 1,200 total field offices in the country.
Though Jayapal pretends to represent the Seattle area, there is a total number of zero offices closing in Washington state. And the states with the most closures (the highest being five closures) are red states. The one with the fewest closures? Big blue California. But somehow, Jayapal and her left-wing fringe colleagues want you to think the Trump plan is to hurt seniors in red states?
Democrats have a devious strategy
.: 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to touch Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. Now, we鈥檙e going to get fraud out of there鈥 and everybody wants us to get the fraud out.鈥
鈥 Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47)
If Jayapal’s claims don’t make any sense, it’s because they’re not really meant to.
Democrats’ goal is to lie, manipulate, and gaslight where they can because the American people aren’t siding with their radical views. Instead of course correcting, Democrats double and triple down on there being 17,000 different genders that you can hold all at once (or none at all). They keep pretending there’s no difference between men and women. And they scream about the injustice of deporting illegal immigrant gang members.
So what are they left to do when out of power? Smear Donald Trump, create a boogeyman out of Elon Musk, and hope the media keeps amplifying their shameful lies.
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