Q: Is it true the rumor that all Social Security beneficiaries will have to go to a location to verify their identity to receive their monthly check?
A: The Social Security Administration had announced new policies on identity verification that would have required those applying for retirement and survivor benefits for the first time to verify their identity either online or in person at a field office. Phone verification wasn’t going to be an option any longer.
Abrupt changes in staffing and some procedures at the Social Security Administration, coupled with false and misleading claims about widespread fraud, have prompted heated criticism from Democrats, with some statements leaving the wrong impression that benefits are being cut. Experts share a concern that disorderly actions by the Trump administration could cause administrative errors and disruptions, but there has been no proposed change to benefits mandated by law.
Here’s our fact-check of President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, in video form.
In his first address to a joint session of Congress in his second term, President Donald Trump distorted the facts on fraud, immigration, aid to Ukraine, the economy, autism and more.
Elon Musk shared a chart on X purportedly showing more than 398 million eligible numbers in the Social Security database. Online posts misconstrued the figures to wrongly claim they showed how many people are receiving benefits, which would exceed the U.S. population. The Social Security Administration reported more than 68.4 million recipients in 2024.
President Donald Trump incorrectly interpreted data shared by Elon Musk when he misleadingly claimed on Feb. 18 that “millions and millions of people over 100 years old” may be receiving improper benefits from Social Security. In fact, only about 89,000 people aged 99 or older received benefits from Social Security last year.
In addition to extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, one of his signature achievements in his first term, President-elect Donald Trump has proposed a long list of tax cuts, from eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits to lowering the corporate tax rate. We’ll look at Trump’s tax proposals, their cost and what impact they could have on taxpayers.
In the closing weeks of the campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris has portrayed former President Donald Trump as a danger to democracy. She also has warned he will enact policies that will hurt blue-collar workers, women, seniors, and the nation’s health care system and economy. That was her message at eight campaign events that we reviewed from Oct. 18 through Oct. 22.
Sam Brown, the Republican Senate candidate in Nevada, has publicly supported cutting federal spending in ways that experts say would require deep cuts in popular programs. But his Democratic opponent goes too far in a TV ad that claims Brown “embraced sunsetting Medicare and Social Security.”
In Vice President Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech, we found familiar claims about taxes, abortion, birth control, and Social Security and Medicare.