News — With the Trump administration's announcements that the Social Security Administration will cut its workforce by around 7,000 employees, there is a lot of confusion and interest about what this might mean for this vast program. As these cuts and other changes become realized, the following academics are available to provide commentary and analysis for reporters covering the impacts to Social Security:
, Professor at the Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, CUNY
Abramovitz research and writing is focused on the history of the U.S. welfare state; the impact of neoliberalism on the U.S. welfare state; contemporary social welfare policy issues; low income women’s activism; and class, race, gender and social welfare policy.
Email: [email protected]
, Director Emerita of the Institute for Policy Research and Professor Emerita, Northwestern University
Cook’s research focuses on the dynamics of public opinion; Social Security; the politics of public policy; and public deliberation. Her research addresses questions about what the public thinks about policy issues; how the public’s views have changed over time; why they have changed; and what difference it makes.
Email: [email protected]
, Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Herd's research focuses on how policies affect inequality. Much of her recent research focuses on administrative burden, or the bureaucratic obstacles that people encounter when trying to access government benefits, services, and rights. She is especially interested in how this burden both is shaped by and further reinforces inequality. She has a book published by the Russell Sage Foundation: Administrative Burden. Policymaking by other Means.
Email: [email protected]
, Pamela C. Harriman Professor of Government and Public Policy, College of William and Mary
Howard's research focuses on the history and politics of U.S. social policy. He is the author of The Hidden Welfare State (1997), The Welfare State Nobody Knows (2007), and Who Cares: The Social Safety Net in America (2023), as well as numerous articles and book chapters. He was one of three co-editors for The Oxford Handbook of U.S. Social Policy (2015).
Email: [email protected]
, former Associate Professor of Sociology at City University of New York-Guttman
Dr. Mary Gatta has over twenty years of teaching, research and advocacy experience working on issues of education, employment and retirement inequity in colleges and non-profit
organizations. Her book Waiting on Retirement: Aging and Economic Insecurity in Low Wage Work, on the experiences of older low wage workers was released in October 2018.
, Senior Fellow and Director, Retirement Security Project, Brookings Institute
Goda conducts research that informs how policy can best serve aging societies, including how individuals make healthcare, saving and retirement decisions as they age and the sustainability of public programs serving older populations.
Email: [email protected]
, Professor Emeritus, School of Social Work, Syracuse University
Kingson researches and writes about the politics and economics of aging, Social Security, retirement, interdependence of generations and caregiving across generations. His most recent book, coauthored with Nancy J. Altman, is Social Security Works for Everyone! Protecting and Expanding the Insurance Americans Love and Count On (The New Press, 2021).
Email: [email protected]
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