Earlier this month, my congressional campaign hosted a community forum on protecting Social Security with former Maryland governor and former Social Security Administrator Martin O’Malley. I organized the event because protecting Social Security is one of my top priorities if I return to Congress. After a lifetime of work, Americans deserve to know the promise they paid into will still be there for them.
But the moment that stayed with me most was a comment from someone in the audience.
As the discussion was nearing the end, a woman raised her hand to tell us about her sister, whose husband had recently passed away after decades working construction. Like millions of Americans, he had paid into Social Security every paycheck of his life.
When her sister tried to apply for survivor benefits, she ran into a bureaucratic nightmare. Somewhere in the system, the death had been recorded incorrectly—as if she had died instead of her husband. Until that mistake was fixed, she couldn’t receive the survivor benefits she depended on.
That story captures what Social Security has become. A political talking point that is replacing the promise Americans spent their working lives paying for.
Today, more than 70 million Americans rely on Social Security, including retirees, widows, disabled workers, and children who have lost a parent. The average retirement benefit is about $1,900 a month—not a luxury pension, but often the difference between stability and hardship.
Lately, we’ve seen a familiar pattern in Washington: people in power make the decisions, and regular families pay the price. Now that pattern is hitting Social Security. The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has pushed through the largest staffing cuts in the history of the Social Security Administration, targeting roughly 7,000 workers from an agency responsible for serving more than 70 million Americans.
Those workers aren’t bureaucrats pushing paper. They are the people who answer the phone when a widow calls for help. They process disability claims. They help families navigate survivor benefits. When you cut them, the system stops working. And that’s exactly what Americans are seeing.
Seniors report spending hours on hold trying to reach someone for help. Some field offices are experiencing wait times that stretch most of a day. Claims for disability and survivor benefits are taking longer to process. And the people who made these decisions in Washington aren’t the ones sitting on hold. Families like the woman I met at that forum are the ones picking up the tab. That’s wrong. And it’s exactly the kind of thing I’m running for Congress to change.
Here’s what I want to get done.
First, restore Social Security customer service. If Americans paid into the system for decades, they deserve to be able to reach someone when they call. That means restoring staffing levels at the Social Security Administration and ensuring local offices remain accessible, especially for seniors who rely on in-person help.
Second, protect the benefits Americans earned. Social Security is not a handout. Workers paid into it every paycheck of their lives. I will oppose efforts to privatize the program, cut benefits, or push the retirement age further out for working families.
Third, strengthen Social Security for the next generation. We should address the program’s long-term finances responsibly by asking the wealthiest Americans to contribute their fair share while protecting benefits for middle-class retirees. With sensible reforms now, we can ensure Social Security remains strong for decades to come.
None of this should be controversial. This is about keeping a promise.
Utahns understand the importance of that. We believe in hard work. We believe that when someone earns something, it should be there when they need it. And we believe the government should work for the people who pay for it.
The woman I learned about at that Social Security forum wasn’t asking for special treatment. She just wanted the system her sister’s husband paid into for decades to work the way it was supposed to. That’s not too much to ask. After a lifetime of work, Americans deserve the dignity of knowing the promise they paid for will be kept.
The people who paid into this system shouldn’t be the ones stuck picking up the tab.