A proposed rollback of protections for the nation’s poorest seniors, children and disabled adults could have harsh consequences in cities like Memphis, where many low-income families rely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and food assistance to survive.
The Trump administration is preparing to impose sweeping cuts to SSI — slashing benefits by as much as one-third for hundreds of thousands of Americans.
In its nonstop assault on the most vulnerable Americans, the Trump administration is preparing to impose sweeping cuts to Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a program that provides a lifeline for the nation’s poorest seniors, children and severely disabled adults. The proposed rule would strip eligibility from hundreds of thousands and slash monthly payments by as much as one-third, even as new data confirms Social Security’s trust funds are facing insolvency within the next decade.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), nearly 400,000 people stand to lose critical income. That includes more than 275,000 who would see cuts of about $300 a month, and over 100,000 who could lose their benefits entirely. The changes target families already under strain, specifically SSI recipients living with relatives who receive SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
In Memphis and Shelby County, where more than 150,000 residents rely on SNAP and nearly one in four live below the poverty line, the proposed rule could strike particularly hard. Many SSI recipients here live with family members who share housing and food assistance — precisely the kind of arrangement now being targeted.
Reversing protections for struggling families
The Biden administration had expanded the definition of “public assistance household,” shielding recipients from the harshest penalties. That safeguard ensured that low-income families receiving food assistance would not be punished for offering shelter to an elderly parent or disabled child.
Trump’s rollback would erase that protection, returning to outdated rules from 1980. “Receiving food assistance from SNAP would no longer be enough to qualify a family as a ‘public assistance household,’” CBPP analysts warned. “The resulting SSI benefit cuts would be felt in low-income households with disabled family members or older relatives across the country.”
The typical multi-person SNAP household with an SSI recipient survives on about $17,000 annually — well below the poverty line. Under the new rule, a woman with Down syndrome living with low-income parents could see her benefits plunge from $967 to less than $700 a month, with families forced to track and report household expenses line by line.
In Tennessee, the average household receiving SSI gets about $802 per month, according to state data, with total household incomes often falling below $17,000 annually. Memphis families already stretched thin could see monthly SSI benefits drop by several hundred dollars under the new rule — forcing difficult decisions about rent, food and medicine.
Fallout across the states
Every state would be affected. California could lose benefits for 57,600 people, New York 35,900, Florida 30,800 and Texas 23,600. Even small states like Vermont, Wyoming and Alaska face losses.
While Tennessee-specific estimates have not been released, local advocates warn that thousands of families in Memphis and across the state could be at risk. Cuts to SSI would compound other challenges facing low-income Memphians, including rising housing costs, food insecurity and limited access to in-home care services for disabled residents.
Advocates warn that the proposal would drive more disabled people into institutions, increase homelessness and add crushing red tape.
The cuts come as Social Security marked its 90th anniversary. Nearly 70 million Americans depend on the program, but the latest Trustees’ report projects its trust funds will be depleted by 2034, triggering an automatic 23% cut to monthly checks unless Congress acts.
Unions and lawmakers push back
Unions and community groups are mobilizing. The AFL-CIO’s “It’s Better in a Union” bus tour stopped in Bakersfield, California, where California Nurses Association president Sandy Reding blasted the Trump budget bill as “a cruel piece of legislation that will have disastrous consequences for the most vulnerable in our communities, including the patients I care for in Bakersfield.”
In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) President Everett Kelley pledged to fight Social Security staffing cuts. “Across the country, we are using our voice — as workers, as parents, as people who care about our communities — to demand that this administration and Congress do whatever it takes to protect Social Security,” Kelley asserted. “The American people deserve nothing less.”
Democratic leaders are also taking action. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is preparing a September bill he calls the “Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act,” aimed at reversing Trump’s cuts, reopening shuttered field offices and restoring staffing.
“Social Security to me means my life,” said Ellen Carter, a New York recipient. “It means medicine gets paid; it means that I have a place to sleep at night.”
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a companion bill in the Senate that would add $5 billion in funding, restore staff, safeguard data and launch an investigation into the Department of Government Efficiency, which has overseen the Trump administration’s Social Security cutbacks. “Trump and his Republican allies have made it crystal clear — holding on to earned benefits requires vigilant defense,” Wyden said.
The stakes for millions
For the 7.5 million Americans who rely on SSI each month, including many with severe disabilities, the stakes are life and death.
“For 90 years, we’ve kept America’s greatest anti-poverty success story alive,” Jessica Lapointe, president of AFGE Council 220, told reporters. “We serve widows, orphans, the elderly, disabled, every vulnerable soul in your families and your communities, and they deserve respect and dignity when they come for their earned benefits.”
This story includes reporting by James Coleman of The Tri-State Defender.
