Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Trump And Musk’s Continued Attacks On Social Security

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to condemn the coordinated assault on Social Security by Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Senate Republicans — an attack that is already hurting millions of Americans. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

While markets plunge and retirement accounts reel from Donald Trump’s tariffs, Elon Musk and DOGE are taking a blowtorch to Social Security.

This morning, the Washington Post reported that the Social Security website is facing widespread and repeated outages. People can’t log on and see their benefits. Millions of low-income Americans even received messages saying they’re “not receiving payments” at all, causing widespread panic.

First, DOGE shut down Social Security local offices. Then they shut down phone services. Now seniors can’t go online. What the hell are they supposed to do?

Anyone who thinks Elon Musk isn’t trying to destroy Social Security should look at how they’re crashing the website, how they’re shutting down offices, how they’re closing phone lines. 

Now they’re even proposing another massive round of mass layoffs.

Make no mistake – no mistake, it is clear as a bell – Elon Musk is cutting Social Security benefits.

When he said that it was a Ponzi scheme – so ridiculous and so false and so mean – he really meant it. He believes it. When offices close down, when websites crash, when phone lines shut off – that’s no different than cutting benefits.

Last week, Senate Republicans voted against three amendments by Democrats to protect Social Security from DOGE, including an amendment by Senator Ossoff reversing the mass layoffs and office closures. What did Republicans do? They said no.

Shameful. Social Security is in the greatest crisis ever, and Senate Republicans are now complicit. The longer Republicans allow Elon Musk to threaten people’s benefits, the greater the political blowback is going to be.

And with these issues – the tariffs, the Trump tariff tax, destroying so much of Social Security – the American people are learning that Donald Trump is betraying them.

Everything he said in the campaign, he's just doing the opposite. And it helps the billionaires and hurts the American people.

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