Social Security Administration

Money Moves

Administers the COLA and benefit payments

Social Security benefits rise 3.6% in January for roughly 72 million to 73 million beneficiaries. The average retiree gets about $75 more per month, or roughly $900 a year.

Updated Nov 1

Rule Changes

Administering benefits and cleaning up records

The Social Security Administration said Tuesday it has corrected records for nearly 15% of active Social Security numbers, adding 17 million missing death dates and citizenship information to 25 million files. The agency called it the largest cleanup in its 91-year history.

Updated Oct 21

Rule Changes

As of September 2026: Provides records to the expanded SAVE program

Texas ran all 18 million of its registered voters through an expanded federal citizenship-check database in a single pass. On September 25, the Supreme Court cleared the way for that system to keep running through the November midterms.

Updated Sep 26

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Undergoing largest operational restructuring in decades

For decades, roughly 1,250 Social Security field offices operated as independent mini-agencies, each staffed with employees who knew their local communities and state-specific rules. On March 7, 2026, the Social Security Administration replaced that model with two centralized systems that route beneficiaries to any available representative anywhere in the country. When a retiree in Maine calls about a claim, they may now speak with an employee in Arizona who has never handled that state's rules.

Updated May 30

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Subject of ongoing litigation over data access

The Privacy Act of 1974 was written to prevent exactly this: government employees using federal databases containing Social Security numbers, health records, and bank account information for unauthorized purposes. Department of Government Efficiency staffers did it for nearly a year. They copied records of 300 million Americans to unsecured servers, shared files with outside political groups, and coordinated with election-denial activists to match voter rolls against Social Security data.

Updated May 22