Overview

• Multiple reports say officials are considering eliminating age as a criterion or raising the threshold to 60 when evaluating older applicants for disability benefits.
• An SSA spokesman said the agency is developing proposals to modernize the adjudication process, including updating the occupational data used in decisions, and will use standard rulemaking.
• An Urban Institute analysis estimates a roughly 10% eligibility reduction that could mean about 750,000 fewer beneficiaries over a decade, with about 80,000 fewer dependents receiving linked benefits.
• People familiar with the effort describe the changes as a priority for OMB Director Russell Vought, and a similar rule was prepared late in Trump’s first term but never finalized.
• Democratic lawmakers including Sens. Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren condemned the reported plan, while a White House spokesman said the president will protect Social Security and pointed to a tax change eliminating most benefit taxation.