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john larson
'Wow! Watch This.' Ranking Dem Rips GOP Refusal to Probe Trump-Musk Push to Privatize Social Security
"This is the energy we need," one podcaster said of Rep. John Larson's impassioned remarks.
Mar 13, 2025
"This is how mad everyone should be."
That's how one social media user responded to a video clip in which Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) "goes off" on Republican members of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, who on Wednesday voted down his resolution of inquiry requesting that President Donald Trump provide certain information relating to the administration's attacks on the Social Security Administration since Inauguration Day.
Larson, ranking member of the Social Security Subcommittee, specifically wants materials involving the agency and Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk—whose recent remarks about cutting up to $700 billion in "waste and fraud" in "entitlement spending" have elevated warnings that the administration is working to privatize Social Security.
"Where's Elon Musk? ...If he's so great, if these plans and all the fraud and abuse that he found are so eminent, why isn't he here explaining it?"
It is "a sad morning, a very sad morning, when this committee, the oldest and most continuous in the Congress, neglects its responsibility and essentially holds this hearing today to block any further discussion," Larson said with his arms crossed.
"The men and women on this committee are good people—they're honest and caring people—and that's why I do not understand why you would relegate this committee to no longer being of significance and resort to saying you will do whatever Elon Musk and Donald Trump tell you to do," he continued, raising his voice. "Where's the independence of the committee? Where's the legislature? We're an equal branch of government."
Gesturing to empty seats, Larson asked: "Where's Elon Musk? I'm sure he's a genius, and is a very credible person because of the wealth he's accumulated, but that does not put him above the law or the responsibility to come before this committee and this Congress. If he's so great, if these plans and all the fraud and abuse that he found are so eminent, why isn't he here explaining it?"
"You know why, 'cause he's out to privatize Social Security," charged Larson, a longtime defender of the program. "He's been on television the last couple of days, talking exactly about Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and what he intends to do."
Clips of Larson's tirade sparked enthusiastic responses on social media, including Musk-owned X. One user said: "Wow! Watch this." Another declared, "THIS IS STRAIGHT FUCKING FIRE!!!"
Advocacy groups including Social Security Works and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare also promoted Larson's comments online.
Progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen suggested that other critics of the Republican agenda should follow Larson's lead, saying, "This is the energy we need."
As CT Insider reported Wednesday:
Bette Marafino, president of the Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans, said Wednesday she is "horrified" by the Trump administration's rhetoric around Social Security, including baseless claims about long-dead people collecting benefits.
Marafino, 86, recalled her grandmother telling of visits to decrepit poorhouses, where poor Americans, many of them elderly, used to live in the days before Social Security and other safety net programs.
"If they get rid of Social Security or privatize it, which is what I think they want to do, what's going to happen?" Marafino said. "What's going to happen to so many people who only rely on Social Security?"
Larson dressed down the panel's Republicans after leading a letter—signed by over 150 House Democrats—to acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Leland Dudek last week arguing that office closures and layoffs "will devastate SSA's ability to serve the public and deliver Social Security payments, inflicting backdoor benefit cuts on the American people."
In addition to blocking Larson's resolution regarding what the congressman called Trump and Musk's "hostile takeover of Social Security," Republicans on the committee opposed another directing the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to turn over documents about DOGE's access to department payment systems and confidential taxpayer information.
Meanwhile, in the upper chamber, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Wednesday led a letter urging Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to immediately convene a hearing "to investigate alarming
developments" at the SSA, including Dudek giving DOGE "unfettered access to Americans' most sensitive information."
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Here Comes Trump's Privatization of the Social Security Administration
"After years of hard work and a lifetime of contributions, our seniors shouldn't have to worry about Republicans meddling with their Social Security," said one House Democrat.
Mar 04, 2025
A leaked email from acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Leland Dudek on Tuesday sparked a fresh wave of warnings about U.S. President Donald Trump and government-gutting billionaire Elon Musk privatizing the agency.
The Bulwark, an anti-Trump conservative news outlet, obtained Dudek's March 1 email to staff, which reportedly says in part that "we need to revitalize SSA operations by streamlining activities, outsource nonessential functions to industry experts, and reinstating human judgment and common sense into every decision at every level."
While Dudek did not elaborate on what outsourcing "nonessential functions" will look like, according to The Bulwark, Martin O'Malley, who led the agency under former President Joe Biden, warned that it could involve automation and the use of artificial intelligence to replace call centers staffed by people trained to help seniors and other beneficiaries sort out complex problems.
O'Malley also said that SSA employees he knows report a "toxic" work environment. He told the The Bulwark that "they are driving people out there with a viciousness that I believe will collapse the agency," which could result in an "interruption of benefits."
"We have a 50-year low in staffing while the baby boomer generation is swelling their ranks," O'Malley said. "That's the underlying reality here, and these guys appear hell-bent on breaking it. It seems they really want to break Social Security."
The former SSA commissioner isn't alone in expressing serious concerns about Dudek, the president, and Musk, head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is leading the Trump administration's attack on federal agenices.
Responding to The Bulwark's reporting on the Musk-owned social media site X, House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said that "after years of hard work and a lifetime of contributions, our seniors shouldn't have to worry about Republicans meddling with their Social Security. This is an attack on our nation's seniors—plain and simple."
Also weighing in on X, Congressman Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) declared that "in no way, shape, or form, should we privatize any aspect of Social Security."
Concerns have mounted following a series of events last week, including a wave of Social Security Administration leaders retiring and the agency telling staff that it would be implementing an "organizational restructuring that will include significant workforce reductions." The SSA confirmed a goal to have only 50,000 workers, which requires forcing out 7,000 people.
"With that came an announcement that the agency will consolidate its current 10 regional offices down to four, as well as reorganize headquarters," Government Executive reported. "And Elon Musk's DOGE operatives have canceled the leases for 45 field offices across the country, as well as the Office of Hearings Operations in White Plains, New York."
House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Ranking Member John Larson (D-Conn.) this week led a letter to Dudek signed by over 150 of the chamber's Democrats, who warned that office closures and layoffs "will devastate SSA's ability to serve the public and deliver Social Security payments, inflicting backdoor benefit cuts on the American people."
"Social Security helps approximately 70 million beneficiaries—including seniors, people with disabilities, children, and their families—put food on the table, pay the rent, heat their homes, cover medical bills, and more," the House Democrats wrote. "Shuttering field offices and gutting SSA staffing has nothing to do with 'governmental efficiency.'"
Like O'Malley, they cited the already low staffing level that has led to customer service issues at the SSA. They stressed that office closures "and gutting staff would only deepen the crisis, chaos, and confusion. If the Trump administration is serious about efficiency in delivering benefits to the American people, it would ensure that SSA has the staff and offices needed to serve the public."
Senate Democrats are also sounding the alarm. Government Executive noted that during a Monday press conference, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) accused Trump and Musk of "taking a wrecking ball" to the SSA while Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) warned that their actions are "a prelude to privatization."
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Official Installed by Trump Moves to 'Demolish' Social Security Administration
"This is nothing more than a backdoor benefit cut and an insult to Americans who have paid into the system and earned their Social Security—all to pay for trillions in new tax cuts for the wealthy," said Democratic Rep. John Larson.
Feb 27, 2025
The acting leader of the Social Security Administration reportedly instructed managers earlier this week to draw up plans for a 50% cut to the agency's workforce, a push that advocates and lawmakers said would result in the gutting or total closure of local field offices—and likely benefit disruptions.
The American Prospect first reported the request from Leland Dudek, whom Trump installed as SSA commissioner earlier this month after the agency's former head resigned following a clash with Elon Musk's deputies over their attempts to access highly sensitive personal data. At the time he was elevated to the helm of SSA, Dudek was under investigation for allegedly sharing information with Musk's team improperly.
According to the Prospect, the deadline for SSA managers to comply with Dudek's request for mass-firing plans was Wednesday afternoon.
"The decision could target one of the government's most prominent public-facing initiatives: SSA field offices, where seniors, people with disabilities, and survivors whose parents have died can sign up for benefits and get information," the outlet noted. "In an email to the Prospect, SSA would not confirm any reductions in its workforce beyond the abolition of two small internal offices announced this week... Sources have speculated to the Prospect that the terminations are being done piecemeal to avoid headlines of tens of thousands of jobs lost."
"Laying off half of the workforce at the Social Security Administration and shuttering field offices will mean the delay, disruption, and denial of benefits."
Nancy Altman, president of the progressive advocacy group Social Security Works, said in a statement Wednesday that Dudek's push for large-scale staff cuts shows the Trump administration and Elon Musk want to "demolish" SSA.
"Contrary to what Elon Musk and his acolytes may believe, AI chatbots are no substitute for in-person service from a human being," said Altman. "Americans apply for Social Security benefits at the most vulnerable times of their lives. Moreover, many people who seek information may have trouble articulating or even knowing what questions they need to ask."
"If Musk's plan goes through, it will deny many Americans access to their hard-earned Social Security benefits. Field offices around the country will close. Wait times for the 1-800 number will soar," Altman warned. "DOGE claims to be concerned about fraud, but the best way to detect fraud is through face-to-face contacts with humans who can detect suspicious responses and can read body language. It's not too late to stop this disaster. We urge everyone to call their members of Congress and tell them that local Social Security offices must stay open and fully staffed."
In the wake of the Prospect's story, Government Executive reported that five of the eight regional SSA commissioners "whose offices oversee and support the agency's frontline offices across the country" have decided to leave their posts at the end of this week amid the Trump administration's onslaught against the federal workforce.
"Their departures come amid rumors of impending staff cuts at SSA, where the workforce is already at a 50-year low and has toiled amid a customer service crisis born of lack of funding," Government Executive noted. "Decades of congressional neglect have seen the agency's administrative budget, which for decades sat at 1.2% of benefit outlays, shrink to under 1%."
The outlet added that "regional commissioners aren't the only ones leaving SSA. An unknown number of other employees are also leaving the agency, which shuttered its civil rights and transformation offices this week."
Martin O'Malley, the former Maryland governor who served as SSA commissioner under the Biden administration, wrote late Wednesday that "Social Security is being driven to a total system collapse."
"I give the DOGE kids and co-President Musk 30-90 days before they crater it to the point of interruption of benefits," O'Malley added.
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), a champion of Social Security and vocal supporter of expanding benefits, said in a statement that "Donald Trump pledged no cuts to Social Security on the campaign trail, but now he and Elon Musk have plans to do exactly that."
"Let me be clear—laying off half of the workforce at the Social Security Administration and shuttering field offices will mean the delay, disruption, and denial of benefits," said Larson. "This is nothing more than a backdoor benefit cut and an insult to Americans who have paid into the system and earned their Social Security—all to pay for trillions in new tax cuts for the wealthy. This has nothing to do with 'governmental efficiency.'"
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