Federal Newscast

Social Security sets the record straight on its Death Master File

The Social Security Administration says its confident it's Master Death File is highly accurate.

Michele Sandiford

March 17, 2025 4:25 pm

< a min read

The Social Security Administration continues to try to set the record straight about the accuracy of its Death Master File. After repeated false claims by the White House and DOGE that SSA is paying tens of thousands of people who are more than 100 years old, the agency said less than one-third of one percent of all deaths are erroneously reported and need to be corrected. SSA said it's confident its Master Death file is highly accurate.
(SSA says its Master Death File is accurate - Social Security Administration)

The Senate’s stopgap bill provides a $6 billion increase in defense spending and another $6 billion for veterans’ health care. While the Defense Department has faced challenges due to budget delays, it has never operated under a full year continuing resolution. An additional $6 billion brings total defense spending to approximately $847 billion for the current fiscal year. The funding bill covers a historic pay raise for junior enlisted service members. The additional $6 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs will help cover the budget shortfall in the Toxic Exposures Fund.
(Senate’s stopgap bill includes additional $6 billion for defense - Congress.gov)

Seven more agencies are on the chopping block. The White House is giving leaders of seven small or micro agencies a week to submit a report to the Office of Management and Budget explaining which components or functions of their agency are statutorily required and to what extent. In the meantime, employees at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the U.S. Agency for Global Media; the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution; the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness; the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund; and the Minority Business Development Agency are in limbo. The Trump administration already put more than 1,300 employees at USAGM on paid administrative leave.
(Trump asks seven small, micro agencies to justify their existence - White House)

Billionaire investor Steve Feinberg is the Defense Department’s new deputy secretary. The Senate cleared his nomination in a 59-40 vote last Friday. During his confirmation hearing, Feinberg said his background as a private equity executive gave him the experience needed to address the problems plaguing the Defense Department. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has repeatedly raised concerns about Feinberg’s conflicts of interest, including his ties to Ligado Networks, which is currently suing the Defense Department.
(Senate confirms Pentagon’s deputy secretary - Congress.gov)

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is on a hunt for potential leakers. ODNI has set up a new whistleblower hotline. It comes as new Director of National Intelligence TUlsi Gabbard launches an investigation into leaks and inappropriate messages on the IntelLink Top Secret chat room. ODNI said it recently uncovered obscene, sexually explicit chats on IntelLink. Gabbard has directed agencies to fire and revoke the security clearances of all employees involved in those chats.
(Gabbard announces investigation into IC chats, leaks - Office of the Director of National Intelligence)

The amount of improper payments dropped by $74 billion in fiscal 2024. New data from the Government Accountability Office shows agencies made about $162 billion in improper payments last year, 84% of which were considered over payments. GAO says this data comes from 68 programs across 16 agencies and the estimates do not represent the full extent of governmentwide improper payments. While the drop in total improper payments is a step in the right direction, GAO said 18 programs reported rate estimates of at least 10%, including six programs whose rates ranged from over 25% to about 45%.
(Improper payments dropped by 74 billion in 2024 - Government Accountability Office)

A federal union is preemptively reminding the IRS of its bargaining obligations, ahead of a likely reduction in force. The National Treasury Employees Union said the IRS must abide by a RIF provision in its collective bargaining agreement. The contract states that the IRS has to provide notice on the coming RIF, and give NTEU the opportunity to negotiate on those procedures. The union also said conducting a RIF by Sept. 30, as the Trump administration intends, would violate the contract. At the same time, the Trump administration has told agencies they should ignore any union contract provisions that would interfere with RIF procedures. Agencies’ initial RIF plans were due to the White House last Thursday. Those plans are expected to take effect over the coming weeks and months.
(Letter to IRS on RIF - National Treasury Employees Union)

A lawsuit on the Thrift Savings Plan will be allowed to continue, following a D.C. district court ruling last week. A federal judge has rejected a motion to dismiss the class action suit. The plaintiffs on the case allege they suffered damages from the TSP’s tumultuous system update in 2022. TSP participants filed the class-action lawsuit in 2023, arguing that TSP along with federal contractors Accenture Federal Services and Alight failed to provide the contract’s required services. They argue that technical challenges in the TSP’s update meant participants struggled to access time-sensitive loans and withdrawals. The plaintiffs’ attorneys called the court decision last week a “major victory” to let the case continue.
(Bridges, et al. v. Accenture Federal Services, LLC, et al. - D.C. District Court)

The White House has unveiled new nominees to serve in top intelligence community jobs. President Donald Trump last week formally nominated Aaron Lukas to serve as principal deputy director of national intelligence. Lukas is a career foreign service officer who served on the National Security Council during Trump’s first term. The president also announced his pick of George Wesley Street to be director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. Street would succeed Michael Casey, who resigned from the NCSC in January.
(Nominations sent to the Senate - White House)