The Social Security Administration has been instructed to reduce its staff by half as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to pursue widespread cuts across the federal government, according to multiple media reports.

"We are already short-staffed as it is,"one Social Security Administration employee said of the agency's plans to slash its workforce.

The Social Security Administration announced a “massive” reorganization and “significant” job cuts on Thursday that critics said could increase customer-service wait times and make it more difficult to detect fraud.

Democrats accused the Trump administration of "putting Social Security benefits at risk by firing the staff who help beneficiaries."