Fact Check: Barack Obama Falsely Claims Seniors Depend on Post Office for Social Security

Barack Obama and a number of other Democrat officials have falsely claimed that senior citizens depend on the United States Postal Service to receive their social security checks.

Claim: “Everyone Depends on the USPS. Seniors for their Social Security,” Obama said in a tweet.

Everyone depends on the USPS. Seniors for their Social Security, veterans for their prescriptions, small businesses trying to keep their doors open. They can't be collateral damage for an administration more concerned with suppressing the vote than suppressing a virus.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 14, 2020

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) made a similar claim.

Millions of Americans rely on @USPS for timely delivery of medications, mail in ballots, rent and utility checks, Social Security checks and much more. If Senate Republicans let Trump get away with sabotaging the USPS, millions of Americans will suffer. #DontMessWithUSPS

— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) August 14, 2020

Senator Elizabeth Warren also made this claim.

Trump & his Postmaster are sabotaging @USPS. They are delaying Social Security checks & other mail & potentially disenfranchising millions of voters. @oigusps should investigate Trump megadonor Louis DeJoy’s bad decisions & personal conflicts of interest. https://t.co/wqYlltwznE pic.twitter.com/6YXgvBOJky

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 7, 2020

Michigan Governor Gretch Whitmer also said.

President Trump’s attempts to sabotage the Postal Service are deeply disturbing. Americans rely on our Postal Service for prescriptions, voting, social security checks, and more. The @USPS needs to be fully funded, full stop.https://t.co/V2rOrs7Jdv

— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) August 13, 2020

Hillary Clinton, too.

Americans don't just rely on the mail for voting.

They rely on the mail for medications, Social Security checks, small business operations, and so much more.

Push your lawmakers to fight back and save the USPS. https://t.co/HEgO7M3jHa

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 10, 2020

Verdict: FALSE. Nearly all Social Security payments are made by direct deposit.

The share of Social Security payments made through direct deposit is ninety-eight percent or higher in every state of the union. In Senator Wyden’s Oregon, it is 99.3 percent.

This is not a new development. Social Security has almost exclusively been paid by direct deposit for several years, as this chart from the Social Security Administration shows. Unless specifically requested otherwise, all new enrollees for benefits receive them by direct deposit.

 

It no doubt will scare some seniors to hear that their Social Security payments could be delayed by a political fight over the post office but it is not true.