¶ Overview
- Van Drew was a vocal supporter of Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency.” Van Drew joinedthe Congressional “Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency (DOGE)” Caucus in order to support the agency’s agenda, and defended DOGE’s debunked claim that 150-year-olds were receiving Social Security benefits.
- While Van Drew was defending DOGE, New Jerseyans were suffering due to the agency’s actions. DOGE’s downsizing efforts were affecting the federal government’s ability to deliver services to seniors, and its federal funding cuts threatened to hamstring New Jersey community support organizations and health departments. More than 200,000 New Jerseyans in Van Drew’s district relied on Social Security benefits and more than 8,000 were employed by the federal government.
¶ Van Drew Supported DOGE Despite The Detrimental Impact It Had On New Jerseyans
¶ Van Drew Was A Member Of The HOuse DOGE Caucus
Van Drew Was A Member Of The House DOGE Caucus.
[Congressman Jeff Van Drew, Viewed 6/2/26]
The House DOGE Caucus Worked To Help DOGE Implement Its Agenda. According to Business Insider, “Republican Reps. Aaron Bean of Florida, Blake Moore of Utah, and Pete Sessions of Texas are the co-chairs of the House Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus. ‘Our national debt has surpassed a staggering $36 trillion and should be a wakeup call for all Americans,’ Bean said in a statement when the caucus was launched in November 2024. ‘Our DOGE Caucus, will work closely with the Department of Government Efficiency to help rein in reckless spending and stop the abuse of taxpayer dollars.’ […] Both the House and Senate DOGE caucuses were crafted to work with the Trump administration to identify inefficiencies. In the platform of the caucuses, the chairs state that the federal government is ‘too large, costly, controlling, ineffective, inefficient, and unaccountable.’” [Business Insider, 3/20/25]
¶ Van Drew Defended DOGE’s False Claim That 150-Year-Olds Were Still REceiving Social Security
¶ February 2025: Department Of Government Efficiency Falsely Claimed 150-Year-Olds Were Collecting Social Security Benefits
HEADLINE: "No, 150-Year-Olds Aren’t Collecting Social Security Benefits" [Wired, 2/17/25]
February 2025: Department Of Government Efficiency Claimed 150 Year-Olds Were Claiming Social Security Benefits. According to Wired, "Elon Musk has repeatedly claimed that his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project had uncovered massive government fraud when it alleged that 150-year-olds were claiming Social Security benefits. But Musk has provided no evidence to back up his claims, and experts quickly pointed out that this is very likely just a quirk of the decades-old coding language that underpins the government payment systems." [Wired, 2/17/25]
The Social Security Administration Used The Old Coding Language COBOL Which Experts Said Defaulted To A May 20, 1875 Reference Date When Birth Date Data Values Were Missing, Leading To An Age Of 150 Being Shown. According to Wired, "Computer programmers quickly claimed that the 150 figure was not evidence of fraud but rather the result of a weird quirk of the Social Security Administration’s benefits system, which was largely written in COBOL, a 60-year-old programming language that undergirds SSA’s databases as well as systems from many other US government agencies. COBOL is rarely used today, and as such, Musk’s cadre of young engineers may well be unfamiliar with it. Because COBOL does not have a date type, some implementations rely instead on a system whereby all dates are coded to a reference point. The most commonly used is May 20, 1875, as this was the date of an international standards-setting conference held in Paris, known as the Convention du Mètre. These systems default to the reference point when a birth date is missing or incomplete, meaning all of those entries in 2025 would show an age of 150." [Wired, 2/17/25]
¶ Van Drew Defended DOGE’s Claims That 150-Year-Olds Were Still Receiving Social Security
VIDEO: Van Drew Said It Was “Crazy” That Democrats Opposed DOGE’s Work To Address Alleged Fraud At The Social Security Administration. According to an interview on Fox Business, “REPORTER: We don’t understand why Democrats are trying to stop Trump and DOGE from saving taxpayer money, stopping corruption, stopping waste. We don’t understand why the Social Security Acting Chief tried to block DOGE. Now we’re seeing that federal judge Chutkin, she’s the third Democrat judge to say: “yes, give the green light to DOGE,” that Democrats don’t have the standing to block it. This is a victory for DOGE, but why are Democrats trying to block DOGE? VAN DREW: “I think it’s crazy. I think they’re making a tactical, political mistake. It’s the wrong thing to do. We really have to understand here that every dollar that is wasted, every dollar that goes to transgender operations in Columbia, that goes to purchasing condoms for the Taliban, that goes for muppet productions at various locations around the world. What are we doing? And when you do that, and this is the important thing, you take away from real Americans and real problems. So if you really do care about people’s Social Security, and care about their Medicare, then you should care that there’s not waste, fraud, and abuse, and that every dollar goes back to the deserving Americans who work their whole life to receive those dollars.” [Fox Business, 2/26/25] (video)
VIDEO: Van Drew Agreed That 150-Year-Olds Were Receiving Social Security Benefits And Claimed The Fraud At The Social Security Administration Was “Beyond Anything That You Could Ever Imagine.” According to an interview on Fox Business, “REPORTER: How can these numbers be real at Social Security? Now we’re finding that 25 million people over the age of 100, that’s how many people Social Security claims is over 100? 25 million? Nearly 9 million aged, or age 100 years old to 159? The census bureau says it’s just about 86 thousand are 100 years old. They have one person who’s older than the U.S. Constitution, and older than America itself at 360 years old. There’s gotta be fraud here. They have 60 million more people in Social Security than the U.S. population. So there has to be fraud, but the House Democrats are launching a litigation taskforce to sue the Trump White House to stop all this. VAN DREW: And you know what, even the Democrat judges that were appointed by Democrats realize it as well. Thank God for once they’re really doing the right thing. I mean clearly the president has the right to look at all this and make sure that we can stop the weaponization, stop the fraud, stop the abuse, and that’s what they’re doing. Any president has that right. Elon Musk is not making the decisions about where money is going to be spent, where it’s going to be cut, what the programs are going to be. He’s simply evaluating and pointing out the huge, mammoth problems that we have. Which are, by the way, beyond anything that you could ever imagine. This is like being in a surreal world, this is bizarro world. I mean this is worse, I mean we knew it was bad, Liz, honest to God, but we just didn’t know how bad.” [Fox Business, 2/26/25] (video)
¶ The Social Security Administration Automatically Terminated Social Security Benefits For Those 115-Years-Old Or Older
As Of September 2015, On A Monthly Basis, Social Security Administration Automatically Terminated Social Security Benefits For People 115 Years-Old Or Older. According to the Social Security Administration’s Program Operations Manual System and Wired, "Effective September 2015, the Social Security Administration (SSA) implemented an automated process in which the Regular Transcript Attainment and Selection Pass (RETAP) application selects records for which the Title II beneficiary is: • Age 115 or older; • In any current continuous suspense for seven years or more; and • Entitled on a record where there are no other beneficiaries in a non-terminated status younger than the age of 115. The Title II Redesign (T2R) system automatically selects and terminates entitlement to beneficiaries meeting the criteria in this section on a monthly basis using Ledger Account File (LAF) T9 and Reason for Suspension or Termination (RFST) of AGETRM." [Social Security Administration, Program Operations Manual System, "GN 02602.578 Termination of Entitlement for Title II Beneficiaries Who are Age 115 or Older," 10/28/22; Wired, 2/17/25]
¶ July 2024: Incorrect Payments From The Social Security Administration Accounted For Less Than One-Percent Of All Benefit Payouts, With Most Being Overpayments To Living People
HEADLINE: "Tens Of Millions Of Dead People Aren’t Getting Social Security Checks, Despite Trump And Musk Claims" [Associated Press, 2/19/25]
July 2024: The Social Security Administration’s Inspector General Found Less Than One-Percent Of Payments Were Improper, With Most Incorrect Payments Being Overpayments To Living People. According to the Associated Press, "A July 2024 report from Social Security’s inspector general states that from fiscal years 2015 through 2022, the agency paid out almost $8.6 trillion in benefits, including $71.8 billion — or less than 1% — in improper payments. Most of the erroneous payments were overpayments to living people." [Associated Press, 2/19/25]
¶ 2025: at the social security administration, doge had forced mass layoffs, longer wait times and frequent website crashes
One Year After DOGE-Era Cuts Resulted In A 12 Percent Cut Of The Social Security Administration’s Workforce, Social Security Offices Across The Country Still Struggled With Staffing. According to Business Insider, "More than a dozen Social Security field offices are listed as closed to in-person service, instead directing customers to reach out by phone or contact the national 800 number. Now, the list of closures has prompted concerns for the beleaguered agency and its recipients. A federal employees' union memo obtained by Business Insider sheds some light on why offices are closed: Some due to operational issues with their buildings, while others are so small that any understaffing forces them to temporarily shut down. […] The closures come at a tumultuous time for the Social Security Administration and its beneficiaries; the agency shed around 7,000 workers, or nearly 12% of its workforce, during the DOGE era, and has had to temporarily reassign some employees to staff phone lines. While the SSA said these office closures are temporary, staffing issues and a lack of field offices could be an increasing problem for the administration and recipients alike. Some currently-shuttered offices simply don't have enough staff. These smaller offices, called resident stations, are often staffed by just one person and serve low-population areas. Two resident stations in rural Montana and Wyoming are closed for lack of workers." [Business Insider, 4/23/26]
HEADLINE: "Social Security Stops Reporting Call Wait Times And Other Metrics" [Washington Post, 6/20/25]
HEADLINE: "As Social Security Services Are Cut Back, Millions Of Seniors Face Long Drives" [Axios, 4/8/25]
HEADLINE: "Social Security Website Keeps Crashing, As DOGE Demands Cuts To IT Staff" [Washington Post, 4/7/25]
HEADLINE: "Social Security Faces Thousands More Job Cuts Even With Service In Tailspin" [Washington Post, 4/4/25]
The Social Security Administration Website Crashed Four Times In Ten Days In March Because Servers Were Overloaded. According to the Washington Post, "The Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month because the servers were overloaded, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts. In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones in place of receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. Amid all this, the agency no longer has a system to monitor customer experience because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk. And the phones keep ringing. And ringing." [Washington Post, 3/25/25]
Field Office Managers At Social Security Offices Had To Answer Phones In Place Of Receptionists Because DOGE Had Pushed Out So Many Federal Employees. According to the Washington Post, "The Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month because the servers were overloaded, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts. In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones in place of receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. Amid all this, the agency no longer has a system to monitor customer experience because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk. And the phones keep ringing. And ringing." [Washington Post, 3/25/25]
DOGE Eliminated The Social Security Administration’s System To Monitor Customer Experience. According to the Washington Post, "The Social Security Administration website crashed four times in 10 days this month because the servers were overloaded, blocking millions of retirees and disabled Americans from logging in to their online accounts. In the field, office managers have resorted to answering phones in place of receptionists because so many employees have been pushed out. Amid all this, the agency no longer has a system to monitor customer experience because that office was eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk. And the phones keep ringing. And ringing." [Washington Post, 3/25/25]
Early February-Late March 2025: AARP Said More Than 2,000 People Per Week Had Called Expressing Concerns About Whether They Would Continue To Get Their Social Security Benefits. According to the Washington Post, "Alarmed lawmakers are straining to answer questions back home from angry constituents. Calls have flooded into congressional offices. AARP announced Monday that more than 2,000 people a week have called the retiree organization since early February — double the usual number — with concerns about whether benefits they paid for during their working careers will continue. Social Security is the primary source of income for about 40 percent of older Americans." [Washington Post, 3/25/25]
¶ New Jerseyans Suffered Due To DOGE Cuts That Van Drew Endorsed
2025: 200,588 New Jerseyans In The 2nd Congressional District Relied On Social Security Benefits. According to the Social Security Administration, in 2025, 200,588New Jerseyans in the 2nd congressional district received Social Security benefits. [Social Security Administration, New Jersey,2025]
2023: There Were An Estimated 8,600 Federal Workers In Van Drew’s District. According to the Center for American Progress,
[Center for American Progress, 3/17/25]
DOGE Cut $400 Million In Federal Funding For AmeriCorps, A Government Organization That Supported Community Services Across The Country And Was Expected To Impact 500 Members Of 27 Organizations Across New Jersey. According to The Record, “Several North Jersey programs are among more than two dozen throughout the state affected by federal grant cuts announced last week by the Department of Government Efficiency. The task force overseen by Elon Musk under President Donald Trump's administration canceled about $400 million in grants handed out nationwide, a Washington Post report said. The money comes from AmeriCorps, a government organization that offers various programs to help address community services such as education, environmental conservation and poverty. The cuts affect roughly 500 members of 27 organizations based in New Jersey, including groups at Montclair State University and all three Rutgers campuses, in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden. Other local groups on the list include Zufall Health Center in Dover; the Social-Emotional Learning Alliance for New Jersey based in Morris Township; and St. Paul’s Community Development Corporation in Paterson.” [The Record, 4/29/25]
- The New Jersey AmeriCorps Workers In St. Paul, NJ, Help Run A Food Pantry, Homeless Shelter And Elementary School Program. According to The Record, “AmeriCorps participants from St. Paul's work at a food pantry, homeless shelter and elementary school program. The nonprofit corporation has 12 AmeriCorps participants for each year, with an additional 10 during the summer, said Executive Director Richard Williams. ‘This seems extremely shortsighted,’ he said of the planned cuts.” [Record, 4/29/25]
DOGE Cut $350 Million In Federal Grants Intended For The New Jersey Department Of Health And Department Of Human Services. According to WHYY, “Federal grant cuts include a total of $350 million originally allocated to the New Jersey Department of Health and the New Jersey Department of Human Services, state officials said. Gov. Murphy said the cuts affect the state’s ability to contain and monitor infectious diseases like measles or tuberculosis, as well as bird flu. ‘These cuts will force our state to take contact tracers out of the field and vastly limit the ability of local health departments to follow up on reported cases,’ Murphy said in a statement.” [WHYY, 3/31/25]
- The Cuts Were Expected To Make It Harder For Kids To Get Vaccinated And Impact Programs That Provide Treatment For Mental Health And Substance Abuse. According to WHYY, “The governor added that the cuts ‘will make it harder for parents to find vaccinations for their children, for providers to get lab results back in time to prevent the spread of severe illness, and for Federally Qualified Health Centers to deliver care.’ The loss of funding will also impact programs and services that provide treatment for mental health and substance use disorder, according to state officials. ‘We will do everything we can to restore this funding — including taking legal action — so we can keep the people of New Jersey safe and healthy,’ Murphy said.” [WHYY, 3/31/25]