Murray, Colleagues Blast Trump and Musk’s Plans to Gut Social Security Administration, Threaten Americans’ Social Security
Murray: “Donald Trump and Elon Musk are taking a wrecking ball to the Social Security Administration and putting your Social Security benefits at risk.”
Murray: “When you make it impossible for people to meet or talk to anyone about their Social Security benefits, that’s a benefits cut. Maybe making it impossible to talk to a real person is a good business model in Silicon Valley, but it’s not how our government should treat taxpayers.”
ICYMI: Co-President Elon Musk on Friday: “Social Security is the Biggest Ponzi Scheme of All Time
ICYMI: FACT SHEET: Trump and Musk’s Plot to Make It Harder for Americans to Get Their Social Security Benefits
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations, joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in blasting President Trump and Elon Musk’s plans to gut the Social Security Administration (SSA) and make it harder for Americans who’ve paid into Social Security their whole lives to get the benefits they have earned.
The Trump administration’s plans to gut the Social Security Administration come as Elon Musk calls Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
Last Thursday, the Social Security Administration announced it will “soon implement agency-wide organizational restructuring that will include significant workforce reductions.” Reports indicate SSA may eliminate up to 50% of its workforce in what the agency calls “massive reorganizations,” which agencies were directed to draw up plans for in a recent Executive Order. SSA has now offered all employees incentives to leave the agency, and Trump’s acting SSA commissioner has boasted of firing employees. 90% of SSA staff work across the country outside of the agency’s headquarters. SSA staff who are not providing direct service support perform critical work that keeps the agency and Social Security system operational, including supporting SSA’s IT infrastructure.
SSA staff ensure 73 million Americans get their Social Security benefits each month–which is more beneficiaries than ever before. They do so even though SSA’s 57,000 staff level is already at the lowest level in 50 years. Customer service at SSA has long suffered from historically low staffing levels and inadequate discretionary funding, which Democrats have pushed to increase each year while congressional Republicans push to cut non-defense funding.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk and DOGE are eager to close SSA field offices across the country that Americans count on. DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” lists dozens of SSA field offices they have or will terminate leases for. In 2023, SSA field offices had nearly 120,000 Americans visit per day.
Senator Murray’s full remarks, as delivered, are below:
“We’re here today because Donald Trump and Elon Musk are taking a wrecking ball to the Social Security Administration and putting your Social Security benefits at risk.
“People need help getting Social Security at some of the most vulnerable points in their lives—whether that’s the death of a spouse, the onset of a disability, or the loss of income that comes with retirement.
“And despite what Elon Musk says—Social Security is not a Ponzi Scheme.
“Social Security is a promise that the American people should be able to count on after paying into it their entire lives.
“And part of that promise means being able to get on the phone with an actual human being without having to wait on hold for an hour, being able to visit an office in-person to get help with your benefit without having to jump through hoops or drive hundreds of miles.
“But Trump and Elon are decimating the Social Security Administration, and without adequate staff at the agency, there will be people who can’t get their benefits—period.
“The American people should realize the Social Security Administration is already at its lowest level of staffing in fifty years!
“That’s why fewer than 40% of people who call to talk to a Social Security agent can get through to talk to someone.
“That’s why it takes on average 240 days to process a disability claim.
“That’s why, last year, an estimated thirty thousand Americans died while waiting on a decision for their disability benefits.
“Yet Trump and Elon are loudly declaring they want to significantly reduce staff further.
“They told SSA to draw up plans to cut staff by 50% and their hand-picked Acting Commissioner is proudly declaring he wants to cut at least 7,000 Social Security Administration workers.
“And Trump and Elon are now pushing all Social Security Administration employees out of the door.
“They’re threatening all employees with future firings and forced reassignments while offering financial incentives to leave—that’s an ‘offer’ that went to everyone at the agency.
“I want to make sure everyone understands a few things: ninety percent of SSA staff work across the country outside of the agency’s headquarters at over 1,200 field offices to help people in every part of this country.
“Staff who are not providing direct service support perform critical work that keeps the agency and Social Security system operational—including supporting the agency’s IT infrastructure.
“Elon and DOGE are positively gleeful in touting these staffing reductions—and they are working to close as many Social Security offices as they can get away with.
“DOGE has proudly listed 45 Social Security offices on their ‘Wall of Receipts’ as leases they have terminated.
“When you make it impossible for people to meet or talk to anyone about their Social Security benefits—that’s a benefits cut.
“Maybe making it impossible to talk to a real person is a good business model in Silicon Valley, but it’s not how our government should treat taxpayers.
“Year after year, Democrats fight to boost funding for the Social Security Administration so they can hire more staff and modernize their systems.
“Elon Musk almost certainly doesn’t care, but for the friends and neighbors I grew up with—Social Security is the most important reason they could retire with some basic dignity.
“Before he called Social Security a ‘Ponzi scheme,’ it was just last month that Elon called the American people who rely on federal programs like Social Security ‘parasites.’
“Well maybe Elon could use a little refresher on American history. For decades, our federal tax code has said: if you have a higher income, you are going to chip in more. The radical thing is that right now, Social Security actually works in the opposite way.
“If you make around $160,000 a year—you are paying the same amount into Social Security each year as a billionaire like Elon Musk.
“Someone can make over 12 thousand times your salary—and yet their Social Security tax rate is a fraction of a fraction of what your rate is.
“Think about that: billionaires like Elon are putting just a half a cent of every hundred thousand dollars they make into Social Security.
“So, someone is leeching off the American taxpayer for sure but it’s not hard-working Americans who need Social Security to help them retire—it’s billionaires like Elon Musk, someone who is right now smugly breaking government agencies he knows nothing about, all to enrich himself with more tax cuts.
“This is not a left or right issue—Americans of all political affiliations rely on Social Security. This is about whose side you’re on.
“Democrats are with the workers, middle-class families, seniors—and that’s why we are telling Elon to get his hands off Social Security.”
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