I Wonder What The Internal Memos Say At Social Security

      From NOTUS:

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called any concerns over the cuts to IRS staffing “a complete fallacy” in a testimony to Congress earlier this month.

Frank Bisignano, the IRS CEO, told lawmakers that the “pundits out there saying IRS is going to fail” as a result of sweeping staffing cuts are wrong. …

Internally, however, the agency is projecting an entirely different picture. While the Trump administration publicly stated that the IRS has suffered no ill effects from the staffing cuts, the agency was sounding the alarm that it would be unable to handle tax season, requesting special permission to hire thousands of employees on an expedited basis.

The IRS ultimately requested, and received, special authority to hire 8,000 employees on an expedited basis, according to an internal memorandum obtained by NOTUS.

The agency has “seen massive cuts to its staff in 2025 through workforce reduction initiatives” and “ongoing staffing shortages put the 2026 Filing Season at risk,” Alex Kweskin, the agency’s top human-resources official, said in the late-February memo to the Treasury Department that was later passed on to the Office of Personnel Management. …

SSA Staff To Continue To Shrink

      From Federal News Network:

… In a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine), Bisignano wrote that SSA is looking to fill 1,000 positions — a mix of telephone service representatives and field office workers. But that level of hiring won’t keep up with the agency’s rate of attrition.

According to [a union official], SSA expects attrition to shrink its headcount by 2,000 employees this year. Bisignano wrote in his letter to Collins that workforce attrition this year will be 50% lower than last year, and 30% lower than in 2024, “providing consistency for both staff and the public we serve.” …

Staffing Cuts

     From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Trump Administration Cuts to Social Security Staffing, January 2025 to April 2026
	Overall SSA Staffing Losses		Loss of Select Customer Service Positions1
	#	%	#	%
ALABAMA	-313	-12%	-195	-12%
ALASKA	-3	-8%	-1	-4%
ARIZONA	-82	-13%	-58	-12%
ARKANSAS	-44	-11%	-31	-9%
CALIFORNIA	-637	-11%	-348	-8%
COLORADO	-106	-17%	-52	-13%
CONNECTICUT	-30	-10%	-21	-9%
DELAWARE	-5	-5%	-6	-9%
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA	-198	-21%	-23	-22%
FLORIDA	-344	-13%	-252	-12%
GEORGIA	-220	-14%	-97	-9%
HAWAII	-28	-21%	-20	-18%
IDAHO	-8	-6%	-3	-3%
ILLINOIS	-416	-17%	-206	-13%
INDIANA	-86	-13%	-60	-12%
IOWA	-32	-13%	-24	-12%
KANSAS	-31	-13%	-22	-12%
KENTUCKY	-97	-14%	-66	-12%
LOUISIANA	-62	-11%	-43	-10%
MAINE	-20	-12%	-16	-12%
MARYLAND2	-1,543	-16%	124	5%
MASSACHUSETTS	-120	-12%	-89	-12%
MICHIGAN	-136	-11%	-92	-11%
MINNESOTA	-50	-13%	-42	-13%
MISSISSIPPI	-57	-11%	-35	-9%
MISSOURI	-405	-17%	-224	-16%
MONTANA	-18	-17%	-15	-18%
NEBRASKA	-20	-13%	-13	-12%
NEVADA	-36	-14%	-17	-8%
NEW HAMPSHIRE	-12	-9%	-11	-12%
NEW JERSEY	-23	-3%	-24	-4%
NEW MEXICO	-160	-23%	-145	-23%
NEW YORK	-452	-13%	-223	-9%
NORTH CAROLINA	-186	-14%	-106	-12%
NORTH DAKOTA	-7	-9%	-2	-4%
OHIO	-165	-13%	-127	-13%
OKLAHOMA	-52	-11%	-31	-9%
OREGON	-54	-16%	-38	-15%
PENNSYLVANIA	-587	-16%	-357	-14%
RHODE ISLAND	-9	-6%	-5	-5%
SOUTH CAROLINA	-64	-11%	-46	-11%
SOUTH DAKOTA	-5	-7%	-4	-6%
TENNESSEE	-124	-14%	-74	-11%
TEXAS	-424	-13%	-279	-11%
UTAH	-22	-13%	-16	-12%
VERMONT	-7	-13%	-6	-12%
VIRGINIA	-100	-14%	-75	-14%
WASHINGTON	-168	-15%	-128	-15%
WEST VIRGINIA	-49	-16%	-23	-11%
WISCONSIN	-91	-17%	-80	-18%
WYOMING	-6	-18%	-6	-19%
TOTAL3	-8,028	-14%	-3,809	-10%
Source: OPM EHRI Status