Dudek last week announced that for any transaction requiring Social Security claimants to verify their identities, starting on March 31 they will no longer be able to do so over the phone. Instead, claimants who can’t use the agency’s website will have to verify their identities in-person by visiting a field office.

The Social Security Administration is rushing cuts to phone services at the White House's request, the agency's acting commissioner told Social Security advocates in a meeting on Monday, two sources who attended tell Axios.

The billionaire Tesla owner called the program “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time” in an interview last month.