Kathy Davis, of Lewiston, a Social Security beneficiary who paid into the system for over 46 years, speaks about potential staffing cuts to Social Security staff during a news conference Tuesday at Maple Hill Farm Bed and Breakfast Inn and Conference Center in Hallowell. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

HALLOWELL — Federal workers and union representatives in Maine warned Tuesday of possible staffing cuts to Social Security offices here and across the country, saying they say could shutter Aroostook County’s only office and lead to delayed services for Maine beneficiaries.

The group says proposed staffing reductions could eliminate 12% to 50% of the Social Security Administration’s workforce nationwide, and include closing the Presque Isle office. The cuts are being discussed at a time when staffing is already at a 50-year low, they say. And those cuts could be made in tandem with cuts to phone services.

At a news conference Tuesday at Maple Hill Farm Inn and Conference Center, workers said Maine’s eight Social Security offices are already understaffed in trying to support about 355,000 Social Security beneficiaries, and further cuts would lead to long delays in processing benefit applications, putting vulnerable Mainers such as older adults and people with disabilities at risk.

Nationwide, about 73 million people receive Social Security benefits, which are administered through an outdated computer system, prompting fears that mass staffing cuts could cause the entire system to collapse.

Kathy Davis is among those worried about the Trump administration’s possible cuts to Social Security. Davis, 73, of Lewiston, lives alone with her dog and relies on less that $2,000 a month in benefits to pay her expenses, ranging from property taxes, food, heat, electricity, insurance and medical expenses.

Davis said she is unable to work because of her age and her health. Not being able to collect the Social Security that she and other workers — especially baby boomers — have earned could force her into homelessness or worse, she said.

“This is the stuff nightmares are made of,” Davis said. “I should be relaxing and enjoying myself, not sitting on pins and needles waiting for the ax to drop.”

Staffing cuts and possible office closures are part of an effort by Elon Musk, the billionaire who is advising President Donald Trump and is leading the Department of Government Efficiency, to drastically reduce the size of the federal government and government spending.

Citing anonymous sources, The Associated Press reported late last month that the administration is looking to eliminate between 7,000 and 30,000 people from the agency’s workforce of 60,000.

It’s unclear how many Maine workers would be affected by any overall staffing reduction, or by closing the Presque Isle office, which was included recently on a list of more than 400 federal properties that could be sold. The list was later removed from the internet.

Trump has insisted he doesn’t want to cut Social Security benefits, but his administration is still considering significant staffing cuts. Musk recently called the program “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time” and suggested without evidence that the system is sending benefits to dead people.

Christine Lizotte, a claims specialist and secretary treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1164, said the proposed reductions could cause the whole system to collapse.

“We are greatly concerned that the DOGE team is pressuring the administration to make deep cuts in staff that will delay payments, cause more errors and could even crash the whole system within months,” she said.

Lizotte said that, like other federal workers, her union members are facing increased pressure to quit or retire. Employees receive a couple of emails a week urging them to leave or take a buyout. They also have been ordered back into the office and are asked every week to report five things they did the previous week.

Ray Thompkins, of Rockland, a claims specialist who works at the Rockland Social Security office, speaks during Tuesday’s news conference. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

‘A VERY STRESSFUL TIME’

“It’s a very stressful time because every day we’re getting emails from Washington, D.C., trying to push us out the door,” said Ray Thompkins, an Air Force veteran who works as a claims specialist in the Rockland office, which already is picking up work from an understaffed Augusta office.

“This is not the time to be cutting this critical lifeline to millions of people,” Thompkins said. “We need to properly fund the Social Security Administration and strengthen it for generations of Americans to come.”

Thompkins said closing the Presque Isle office would force people to drive to Bangor for one-on-one meetings, which could create “a severe hardship” for older Mainers who can’t drive or people with disabilities.

Workers urged Maine’s congressional delegation to oppose DOGE’s efforts, especially any additional cuts to Social Security.

“Our senators, our legislators, do your jobs,” said Davis, who paid into the system for over 46 years. “We don’t work for you. You work for us, and we need you. I’m very worried about it. I’m very scared. And it’s just not what my retirement years should be.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Susan Collins, the Senate’s top appropriator and an Aroostook County native, said her staff has been told there are no plans to close the Presque Isle office, or any field offices in Maine.

Collins and Maine’s other senator, Angus King, have spoken out about preserving and strengthening Social Security. Last year, Collins co-authored legislation, (which King co-sponsored) that restored earned benefits for thousands of teachers and other public servants.