Booker silent as Trump plots biggest Social Security disability cut since Reagan’s failed attempt

In a quiet assault on America’s most vulnerable, the Trump administration is quietly sharpening an axe aimed at the very foundation of the nation’s social safety net, preparing to enact the deepest cuts to Social Security disability benefits in the program’s history.

Anti-establishment, progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick chided U.S. Senator Cory Booker for ignoring the threat to America’s most successful anti-poverty program since the news broke on October 5, 2025.

The Center for American Progress, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Washington Post have all sounded alarms about the Trump administration officials who are considering eliminating age as a factor in determining whether someone is capable of working.

As of August 2025, 8.1 million people received Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, and 7.3 million people received federal Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI).

“Senator Cory Booker has been silent while the Trump administration is preparing a change that would touch the lives of millions of the nation’s most vulnerable,” said McCormick. “Regulatory plans are being drawn that would represent the most significant cut to Social Security Disability Insurance in the program’s history, a move that threatens to breach the president’s repeated promises to leave Social Security untouched.”

The proposed changes—detailed in the administration’s own regulatory agenda and confirmed by agency officials—are set to fundamentally alter the eligibility criteria for disability benefits.

At the heart of the overhaul is a recalibration of how age is considered in disability determinations.

The Social Security Administration is reportedly considering either eliminating age as a factor entirely or raising the threshold from 50 to 60, a shift based on the premise that age does not seriously affect a person’s ability to adapt to simple, entry-level work.

The consequences of such a change would be profound. The Urban Institute estimates the new rules could reduce SSDI eligibility for new claimants by as much as 20 percent overall, with older adults facing a devastating 30 percent reduction in approvals.

“For a program that currently serves 8.1 million disabled workers—nearly 80 percent of whom are aged 50 or older—this represents the largest cut since the Reagan administration’s attempts to trim disability rolls in the 1980s,” said McCormick, who noted that those efforts were ultimately reversed after public outcry and legal challenges.

While the looming threat to Social Security disability benefits emerged as the most significant domestic policy story of the month, Booker’s press releases focused on the government shutdown, town halls, SNAP benefits, and statements on topics from the Gateway Project to the indictment of New York’s attorney general.

The human impact would extend far beyond statistics. Research shows that applicants denied disability benefits rarely return to work, particularly older workers whose careers were cut short by severe medical conditions.

Many denied workers would be forced to claim Social Security retirement benefits early, permanently reducing their monthly income by up to 30 percent. Others would lose access to critical healthcare, as SSDI recipients typically qualify for Medicare after two years of receiving benefits.

The proposed changes come amid what advocates describe as a systematic dismantling of the Social Security Administration itself.

The agency has undergone what officials call the largest staff cut in its history, with 7,000 workers pushed out in a radical downsizing that has created massive backlogs and service delays.

Nearly one million people were waiting for disability decisions as of July, with 30,000 applicants dying in fiscal year 2023 before their cases could be resolved.

For the Americans who depend on these benefits—the construction worker with a bad back, the factory worker with deteriorating joints, the older employee who can no longer keep pace—the proposed regulations represent more than bureaucratic fine print.

They represent a fundamental redefinition of disability itself, one that could leave hundreds of thousands of people without the safety net they paid into throughout their working lives, a quiet revolution in how America cares for those who can no longer care for themselves.

In 2019, McCormick said Social Security’s benefits could be expanded, and its funding would remain in balance for decades beyond the longest projections by simply requiring upper-income Americans to pay the same tax rate as middle-class families.

She has criticized Congress for failing to act on her recommendations despite notices that Social Security’s surplus reserves would be depleted by 2032, when benefits would be cut close to 25 percent without legislative action.

McCormick reiterated that criticism after a 2021 study found that the Forbes 400 paid an effective tax rate of 8.2 percent, a rate lower than many middle-class Americans, because unrealized capital gains worth about $50 trillion were not counted as income.

That study by White House economists found that the 400 wealthiest U.S. families paid an average income tax rate of just 8.2 percent from 2010 to 2018.

McCormick has revived Senator Huey Long’s 1934 Share Our Wealth plan with a proposal to cap personal fortunes at $100 million and use the excess to fund jobs, education, healthcare, and more investments that strengthen and expand the middle class.