Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Addressing Trump And DOGE’s Destructive Attacks On Vital Programs Like Social Security

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to address dangerous policies being implemented by the Trump administration targeting much-needed government services. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

For sixty days, Donald Trump has waged a campaign of destruction against America’s very foundations.

Each step of the way, Leader Thune and the Republican Majority have enabled his every whim.

In just the last week alone – among many other things that Donald Trump did that hurt the country – he has created pandemonium at the Social Security Administration and he has signed an executive order closing down the Department of Education.

Let me discuss each briefly.

When it comes to the Department of Education, of course Donald Trump cannot proceed without an act of Congress. That’s the law.

Let me be very clear: if Republicans ever, ever try to move a bill through the Senate that shuts down the Department of Education, Senate Democrats will halt it in its tracks. It will go nowhere. It will be dead on arrival.

On Social Security, Senate Republicans should do their jobs and stand up to Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s reckless behavior.

In just a few days, a new policy will be implemented at the Social Security Administration preventing Americans from signing up for benefits over the phone, which they have been able to do for a very long time.

Seniors who can’t drive themselves or use the internet will be in danger of losing benefits. As the Wall Street Journal says, “Dealing with Social Security is Heading from Bad to Worse.”

There is no other way to describe this new policy: it is a direct attack from Donald Trump and Elon Musk on America’s seniors.

Just because they're not stopping the checks directly that go to people doesn’t mean they are stopping people from getting them in indirect ways. It’s just as bad when you don't have the money that you desperately need for drugs, for food, for rent.

And it is all part of DOGE’s two-faced effort to root out fraud within Social Security, the fraud that everyone knows does not exist.

In fact, a judge last week called DOGE’s fraud hunt little more than a “fishing expedition.”

We all know Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s real goal: they want to run Social Security to the ground.

They want to starve it, strain it, make it unworkable for the American people.

They want to make Social Security so dysfunctional, so chaotic, so unworkable, in order to justify cutting benefits for the American people.

If the American people don't believe this is coming directly from Donald Trump, just listen to his address to Congress, where he spent a full ten minutes spreading lie after lie after lie about fraud, about checks to people who are 150 or 200 years old.

People who say Donald Trump isn’t serious about attacking Social Security were not paying attention to what he said in his speech. Of course those people weren't getting the checks! Donald Trump wanted to ridicule and demean Social Security, which so many of our seniors depend on.

Americans of course are outraged.  Of course they are afraid.

But the administration’s response has been utterly heartless and cruel. And listen to this: last week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that most seniors won’t mind if the government skipped a payment.

Let me read his quote directly: “Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month” said Lutnick, “My mother-in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain…and she'll get it next month.”

Of course his mother-in-law isn’t worried! She could call her very wealthy son in law for a little help! If every senior had a billionaire son-in-law, they wouldn't worry about not getting their check. Most people aren’t so lucky.

To call this out of touch doesn’t even begin to describe it. Does Mr. Lutnick realize that a lot of seniors are living paycheck to paycheck, that without even one check they don't have enough money for food or medicine or the rent? Again, to call this out of touch doesn't even begin to describe. It's delusional.

But so far, we have not heard a peep from the Republican Leader or the Republican Majority about the crisis happening to Social Security.

I ask the Republican Majority, I ask every Republican Senator who sits in this chamber, I ask the Republican Senators: are they fine with Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the Social Security Administration?

Do they agree with Donald Trump and Elon Musk that Social Security is a scam?

Do they agree with Howard Lutnick that seniors will be ok with missing a payment?

If not, where is the outrage from Senate Republicans?

The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, is on the brink of detonating one of the most sacred social programs in America, and Republicans are completely silent. Its deafening, their silence.

Instead of standing on the sidelines, Leader Thune and Senate Republicans should use their Majority to protect senior’s benefits. But they aren’t doing that.

Committees should be taking swift action. They should be writing letters to Elon Musk telling him to get his hands of people’s benefits.

If Democrats were in the Majority, the crisis happening to Social Security right now would be agenda item number one.

Leader Thune and the Republican Majority, meanwhile, are sleepwalking in the middle of the gravest danger Social Security has faced perhaps in its history.

If seniors miss out on benefits, the political blowback from the American people will be nothing short of immense.

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