On August 14, 2025, the United States marked a major milestone: the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act, first signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. In a ceremony at the White House, President Donald J. Trump commemorated the occasion with a formal proclamation and a series of sweeping policy announcements, promising to strengthen and modernize the program for generations to come.
"On the 90th anniversary of the establishment of this historic program, I recommit to always defending Social Security, rewarding the men and women who make our country prosperous, and taking care of our own workers, families, seniors, and citizens first," Trump declared from the Oval Office, according to Nexstar Media. His remarks underscored the enduring importance of Social Security as a bedrock of American retirement security and social welfare.
The president’s address was more than just ceremonial. He used the moment to tout his administration’s recent legislative achievement, the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill" enacted in July 2025. This new law, Trump said, delivers the "largest tax break for seniors in the history of our country." Specifically, the bill provides a temporary $6,000 tax deduction for Americans aged 65 and older. According to the White House, this change means that 88% of seniors receiving Social Security benefits will now pay zero tax on those benefits—a dramatic shift in the tax landscape for retirees.
The move has been celebrated by many older Americans. For decades, Social Security benefits have been subject to federal taxation for some recipients, depending on their income. Now, with the new deduction, the vast majority of seniors will keep more of their monthly checks. As Trump put it, "Following the passage of the historic One Big Beautiful Bill last month, the vast majority of seniors who receive Social Security will pay zero tax on their Social Security benefits."
However, not everyone is convinced the tax cut will benefit all seniors equally. Some policy experts have pointed out that the largest impact may be felt by those in the upper-middle class, rather than those on the lower end of the income spectrum. The temporary nature of the deduction also raises questions about its long-term significance.
Beyond tax relief, Trump’s administration has made combating fraud, waste, and abuse within the Social Security system a central theme. During the anniversary event, Trump announced that nearly 275,000 illegal immigrants had been "kicked off" the Social Security rolls during his time in office. "To protect our benefits, we’ve already kicked nearly 275,000 illegal aliens off of the Social Security system," Trump said, as reported by the New York Post. The Social Security Administration later confirmed that it had "updated the Social Security records of about 275,000 individuals no longer holding legal status," though it did not specify how many of those individuals were actually receiving benefits.
Trump did not miss the opportunity to contrast his administration’s record with that of his predecessor. "Biden never kicked anybody off," he asserted. "Everybody joined. And we’re carrying out historic deportations to remove many more illegals committing Social Security fraud. It’s a Social Security fraud that was taking place at levels that nobody’s ever seen." The issue of whether undocumented immigrants can access Social Security benefits is complex, as many pay into the system using fraudulent credentials but are ineligible to claim benefits legally. Still, the administration’s aggressive posture on enforcement has drawn both praise and criticism from various quarters.
Efforts to modernize and streamline the Social Security Administration (SSA) were also front and center at the anniversary event. SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, a former top executive at JP Morgan Chase and Fiserv, joined Trump at the White House and laid out a vision for a "digital first" agency. "This will be a digital first agency, and we are building My SSA accounts, that’s the digital account, and we have a bold goal of 200 million Americans to have a digital SSA account by the end of next year," Bisignano announced, according to Nexstar Media. He added, "You should expect this to be a great digital first agency. My commitment to make this happen is as deep as the president’s commitment to make the world a great place. Social Security will be great again."
The push for digitization is already yielding results, according to administration officials. Trump claimed that Social Security field office wait times are down 30% from a year ago, call wait times have plummeted by 73%, and the backlog of disability claims has dropped by 26%. Bisignano pointed to the agency’s goal of achieving single-digit wait times for phone calls, a dramatic improvement from the previous average of 40 minutes. "It will happen, just like we had a bold goal of single-digit wait time on the calls when they were at 40 minutes," he said.
Yet, amid the celebration, there are signs of looming challenges. Some experts have raised alarms that the very tax cuts Trump is touting could hasten the depletion of Social Security’s trust funds. According to the Office of the Chief Actuary at the Social Security Administration, the recent changes could accelerate the combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) trust funds’ insolvency from the third quarter of 2034 to the first quarter of 2034. This projection suggests that the program could face financial headwinds even sooner than previously expected, with the potential for reduced benefits or increased taxes down the line unless Congress acts.
Trump, for his part, dismissed such concerns in his remarks to reporters. "You reported it all the time. In four or five years, it’s going to go bust, but not anymore, it’s not," he said, expressing confidence that his administration’s reforms would secure the program’s future. Meanwhile, the administration’s plans to reduce the SSA workforce and the focus on eliminating "billions of dollars" in fraud have drawn both public attention and debate.
As the nation reflects on nine decades of Social Security, the program’s future remains a subject of intense political and policy debate. Trump’s anniversary proclamation concluded with a pledge to "strengthen our retirement system, protect programs like Social Security and Medicare against fraud and abuse, and ensure that every future generation of American citizens has the income security they need and earned." The question of how best to balance benefit security, fiscal sustainability, and administrative efficiency will continue to shape the conversation in the years ahead.
For now, the 90th anniversary serves as a reminder of Social Security’s enduring legacy—and the ever-evolving challenges it faces in a changing America.