Trump says Vance's fraud task force could save Social Security

President Donald Trump used his 12th Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to make a bold claim: that a White House anti-fraud initiative led by Vice President @JDVance could rescue Social Security and help balance the federal budget, without cutting benefits or changing the program.

"Billions and billions and billions" in fraud

Trump hosted the 12th Cabinet meeting of his second term on Wednesday, where he claimed that the White House's anti-fraud task force may balance the federal budget and save Social Security. During the meeting, Trump said the task force has already identified "billions and billions and billions" worth of fraud, noting that if the initiative "does really great, we'll have a balanced budget without having to do anything."

Trump pointed specifically to fraudulent Social Security payments going to people listed as 115 or 125 years old. "It's funny," he said. Vance was named to head the anti-fraud effort in March, and the Trump administration has stated the initiative was launched as some states have failed to combat entitlement fraud that has benefited illegal immigrants.

Vance's team has uncovered fraud across government programs, including hospice and home healthcare, particularly in California, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fraud in various states, suspected government contract fraud, and coronavirus pandemic-era fraud. The task force has also begun blocking tens of millions of dollars in suspected student aid fraud.

Vance credited Trump's direct involvement for the task force's progress. "The fact that we have dedicated presidential leadership is really what's made this possible, because it does require... sometimes these agencies don't know how to work together at the lower level, and that's one of the things we've had to turn on and force with the fraud task force," Vance said.

A program under mounting financial pressure

The backdrop to Trump's comments is a Social Security system facing a genuine funding crunch. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected that Social Security's Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund will be depleted in 2032, as spending outpaces the trust fund's income. An illustrative scenario examined by the CBO finds that benefits paid to beneficiaries would be cut by 7% in 2032 and by an average of 28% per year from 2033 to 2036.

However, government projections suggest fraud prevention alone is unlikely to solve Social Security's long-term financial challenges. According to federal estimates, improper payments represented roughly 3.8% of Social Security expenditures in fiscal year 2025, and the system's financial strain is largely driven by demographic pressures as benefit costs for an aging population outpace payroll tax revenues.

The White House has increasingly highlighted anti-fraud initiatives as a central political message ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Whether the sums recovered will be sufficient to close a structural funding gap of hundreds of billions of dollars remains an open question that fiscal analysts say will ultimately require congressional action.

Sources:
Fox Business: Trump claims Vance's anti-fraud task force could save Social Security
Fox Business: Social Security faces trust fund insolvency in 2032, CBO warns
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: Social Security Racing Towards Insolvency