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john larson
Rep. John Larson vs. the Billionaires: A Battle for Social Security’s Future
Why is a hedge fund billionaire who claims to align with the Democratic Party trying to take out one of the most fierce defenders of Social Security now serving in Congress?
May 15, 2026
Rep. John Larson is the #1 champion of Social Security in the US House of Representatives. Over the last 15 years, he has played a pivotal role in uniting the Democratic caucus against any cuts to Social Security’s modest benefits. Thanks to Larson’s leadership, the vast majority of House Democrats support legislation that protects and expands Social Security, and pays for it by making the wealthy pay their fair share.
That makes him a threat to Wall Street billionaires like Stephen Mandel. Mandel, a hedge fund manager with a net worth of nearly $4 billion, is the main backer of a new group called The Bench. This group, along with the associated Majority Democrats PAC, is pouring millions into electing corporate-friendly Democrats.
Nearly all of the candidates that Mandel’s front groups back are running for either open seats or for seats currently held by Republicans. Often, these candidates are facing off against more progressive Democrats in a primary.
Luckily, the voters who will ultimately decide are looking for a relentless champion to take on Donald Trump and deliver results for Connecticut—not a corporate-funded centrist beholden to billionaire interests.
Of all the candidates endorsed by The Bench, Luke Bronin is the only one to primary an incumbent Democrat. The Democrat that Bronin is challenging? John Larson.
Bronin is a former corporate lawyer and the product of elite institutions like Phillips Exeter Academy. He’s the polar opposite of Larson, who grew up in a public housing project and worked as a High School history teacher before running for office.
Bronin has longstanding ties to the Mandels, which are well known in Connecticut political circles.
Now, the Mandels and other billionaires are backing Bronin’s US House campaign, in hopes of taking out Larson. They know that Larson is working closely with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. If Democrats win control of the US House in November, Larson will bring a bill to protect and expand Social Security to the House floor.
If it becomes law, the Mandels and other billionaires will have to pay their fair share into Social Security, just like the rest of us—instead of only paying in on the first $184,500. That’s what they are most afraid of.
In Connecticut, political parties hold conventions months before the primary, where a small number of party insiders vote on who to endorse. At the recent Connecticut Democratic Party convention, Bronin was able to capitalize on this undemocratic process, which means he will have a higher ballot position in the August primary.
If Democrats win control of the US House in November, Larson will bring a bill to protect and expand Social Security to the House floor.
Luckily, the voters who will ultimately decide are looking for a relentless champion to take on Donald Trump and deliver results for Connecticut—not a corporate-funded centrist beholden to billionaire interests. And, a growing movement of labor, progressives, and local leaders has propelled John Larson to a decisive lead as he prepares for the upcoming August primary.
John Larson is a fighter. He is never more fierce than when he is fighting for the working class against the billionaire class. He will win the Democratic primary, and then the general election, and he will finish his fight to protect and expand Social Security for generations to come.
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Trump Labor Statistics Pick Called Social Security a 'Ponzi Scheme' That Should Be Shuttered
"Bureau of Labor Statistics data is what determines the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits," said Rep. John Larson. "It should alarm everyone when a yes-man determined to end Social Security is installed in this position."
Aug 13, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to replace the top labor statistics official he fired earlier this month has called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" that needs to be "sunset," comments that critics said further disqualify the nominee for the key government role.
During a December 2024 radio interview, Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni said it is a "mathematical fiction" that Social Security "can go on forever" and called for "some kind of transition program where unfortunately you'll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes, but never actually receive any of those benefits."
"That's the price to pay for unwinding a Ponzi scheme that was foisted on the American people by the Democrats in the 1930s," Antoni continued. "You're not going to be able to sustain a Ponzi scheme like Social Security. Eventually, you need to sunset the program."
Trump's choice for the Commissioner of the Bureau Labor Statistics called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme" in an interview:
" What you need to do is have some kind of transition program where unfortunately you'll need a generation of people who pay Social Security taxes, but… pic.twitter.com/MXL7k1C644
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) August 12, 2025
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), one of Social Security's most vocal defenders in Congress, said Antoni's position on the program matters because "Bureau of Labor Statistics data is what determines the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits."
"It should alarm everyone when a yes-man determined to end Social Security is installed in this position," Larson said in a statement. "I call on every Senate Republican to stand with Democrats and reject this extreme nominee—before our seniors are denied the benefits they earned through a lifetime of hard work."
Trump announced Antoni's nomination to serve as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) less than two weeks after the president fired the agency's former head, Erika McEntarfer, following the release of abysmal jobs figures. The firing sparked concerns that future BLS data will be manipulated to suit Trump's political interests.
Antoni was a contributor to the far-right Project 2025 agenda that the Trump administration appears to have drawn from repeatedly this year, and his position on Social Security echoes that of far-right billionaire Elon Musk, who has also falsely characterized the program as a Ponzi scheme.
During his time in the Trump administration, Musk spearheaded an assault on the Social Security Administration that continues in the present, causing widespread chaos at the agency and increasing wait times for beneficiaries.
"President Trump fired the commissioner of Labor Statistics to cover up a weak jobs report—and now he is replacing her with a Project 2025 lackey who wants to shut down Social Security," said Larson. "E.J. Antoni agrees with Elon Musk that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and said that middle-class seniors would be better off if it was eliminated."
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'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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