The Trump administration says it’s working to reduce the amount of fraud in federal government programs. However, fiscal experts have said that those reductions alone won’t “save” the Social Security program or result in “a balanced budget,” as President Donald Trump has falsely suggested.
That’s because fraudulent overpayments in Social Security are a small fraction of that program’s total costs. Likewise, the most recent federal budget deficit was about 240% more than the highest federal estimate of annual spending due to fraud.
Yet during a May 27 meeting with members of his Cabinet, the president talked about his administration’s efforts to root out fraud and what it could mean for the future of Social Security and the government’s finances.
“Under the leadership of Vice President JD Vance — very proud of this — the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud is waging war on waste, fraud, theft and abuse like nobody’s ever seen before,” Trump said at the White House. “And they’re finding billions and billions and billions of dollars.”
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