Larson, Wasserman Schultz Lead 165 House Democrats to Halt Trump Plan to Strip Disability Benefits

Washington, D.C. – Today, House Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member John B. Larson (CT-01) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) led a call for Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano to halt the Trump Administration’s planned cuts to Social Security disability benefits. President Trump plans to roll out new restrictions to deny benefits to many people age 50 and older with severe, documented impairments.  

Trump’s plan would result in one of the largest cuts to Social Security disability benefits in history – a reported priority of Russell Vought, a Project 2025 architect who now serves as President Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). 

“Social Security is an earned benefit and a solemn promise. Weakening age protections while shrinking agency capacity will drive more older Americans with disabilities into poverty and ill health,” the lawmakers wrote. “Our constituents are already facing a healthcare affordability crisis, higher prices due to tariffs and economic uncertainty, and a higher net tax burden due to the Republican Big, Ugly Law. We urge you to abandon unilateral changes to Social Security disability eligibility and refocus your attention on ensuring that all Americans can access their earned benefits.” 

The average age for a Social Security disability beneficiary is 56, and many beneficiaries have worked physically demanding jobs in sectors like mining, construction, or manufacturing. As of 2022, almost 42 percent of disability applicants were found eligible due to their age. 

Payments average only about $19,000 a year for Social Security disability and $9,000 a year for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Beneficiaries rely on these modest amounts to help cover housing, food, out-of-pocket medical bills, and other basics.  

Ranking Member Larson and Rep. Wasserman Schultz’s letter was signed by 165 House Democrats, including the entire Connecticut delegation. 

Their full letter is available HERE and below: 

Dear Commissioner Bisignano, 

We write to express our strong opposition to the Administration’s plan to sharply reduce or eliminate age as a factor in determinations for Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits, and to overhaul vocational rules in ways which will deny benefits to many people age 50 and older who have acquired severe, documented impairments after a lifetime of work. This plan has the potential to be one of the most sweeping and devastating cuts to Social Security ever made. 

The proposal under consideration would reportedly slash access to Social Security disability benefits by either removing age as an eligibility factor entirely, or raising the threshold to age 60. Independent analysis finds that even a 10 percent cut in eligibility would result in roughly three quarters of a million fewer people receiving disability benefits over the next decade, tens of thousands fewer widows and children receiving auxiliary benefits, and about $82 billion less paid out. Removing or reducing age protections may also push more older, disabled workers into early retirement at age 62, locking in lifelong benefits that are substantially lower than Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). 

By law, the Social Security Administration (SSA) must consider age, education, and work experience when evaluating a person’s disability. However, these factors alone do not grant eligibility: to qualify under the Social Security Act, a person must have a severe disability that not only prevents them from doing their prior job, but also from working in any job in the national economy. SSA only considers age and other vocational factors if an applicant’s severe disability has been established. Age is critical because adaptability to new skills and new jobs generally decreases with age, just as the severity of effects from impairment increases with age. 

The Administration’s rationale for removing age protections for older, severely disabled workers or imposing other restrictions is unclear. Eligibility standards are already extremely stringent, with only about one in three applicants qualifying after providing extensive medical evidence and a rigorous evaluation process. SSA applies these standards rigorously, and the number of SSDI and SSI disability benefit recipients is at a 20-year low. 

We are alarmed that, if implemented, this proposal would be a 100% benefit cut for any older workers with disabilities who could be denied or thrown off Social Security or SSI benefits. The typical SSDI beneficiary is age 56, and many beneficiaries have worked physically demanding jobs in sectors like mining, construction, or manufacturing. Payments average only about $19,000 a year for SSDI and $9,000 a year for SSI, and beneficiaries typically rely on these modest amounts for most or all of their income to cover housing, food, out-of-pocket medical bills, and other basics. Many of these same individuals have been left even more vulnerable after Republicans slashed Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and WIC by over $1.5 trillion earlier this year — and could face financial devastation without their earned Social Security benefits. 

This proposal comes as the Trump Administration is making extreme changes at SSA that threaten the integrity of Social Security and access to earned benefits for seniors, people with disabilities, and survivors. Massive workforce reductions and reassignments have reduced SSA’s field office capacity, and our constituents increasingly report long delays and difficulty getting help with benefit applications or other services. Taken together, these actions curtail access to benefits and reduce SSA’s capacity to evaluate claims fairly and promptly. 

We strongly urge you to immediately halt any measure that would reduce eligibility for Social Security or SSI benefits, including ending or curtailing the consideration of age in disability determinations. If SSA adopts modern occupational data and automated tools, it must do so in a manner that preserves statutory protections for older workers and ensures that benefit decisions are adjudicated fairly with attention to all relevant factors. We also urge you to work with Congress, beneficiaries, and vocational and medical experts to implement evidence-based improvements that reduce hardship for extremely low-income applicants and beneficiaries. Finally, we urge you to halt workforce downsizing, reverse recent staffing losses, and present a plan to rebuild frontline and adjudicative capacity to eliminate backlogs and meet statutory obligations to claimants and beneficiaries. 

Social Security is an earned benefit and a solemn promise. Weakening age protections while shrinking agency capacity will drive more older Americans with disabilities into poverty and ill health. Our constituents are already facing a healthcare affordability crisis, higher prices due to tariffs and economic uncertainty, and a higher net tax burden due to the Republican Big, Ugly Law. We urge you to abandon unilateral changes to Social Security disability eligibility and refocus your attention on ensuring that all Americans can access their earned benefits.