Elon Musk’s Social Security jabs cause concern among Trump allies

Musk’s promise to cut between $1 trillion and $2 trillion in federal spending is virtually impossible without touching entitlement spending. And while Trump insists he wants to root out fraud, that’s unlikely to dent the program’s spending. The Social Security inspector general found that improper payments from fiscal year 2015 to 2022 totaled less than 1% of benefits paid over that time — and most of those were overpayments.

The rhetoric has been matched with policy shifts at the agency — even though Trump’s pick to serve as commissioner has yet to be confirmed. Leland Dudek, the acting commissioner, recently outlined his vision in a lengthy memo to staff members, talking up exploratory efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence into its phone services and enhance its anti-fraud efforts.

The agency is also moving forward with a plan to no longer allow beneficiaries to change their bank information over the phone, necessitating a visit to the office or the creation of an online account — which Social Security employees told NBC News would make it more difficult for some elderly recipients to maintain their benefits.

Already, Dudek and the Social Security Administration have had to backtrack on a couple of unpopular decisions after public outcry.

The agency scrapped plans to end phone service for filing disability and retirement claims entirely, The Washington Post reported. Dudek also rescinded and apologized for an order that would have no longer allowed parents in Maine to sign up for their newborns’ Social Security numbers at hospitals, instead having them register at federal offices.

The one-two punch of office closures and new limits on phone service have drawn concerns across the political spectrum. On Thursday, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., described the choice to close a Social Security hearing office in his district as “a slap in the face to thousands of my constituents who rely on these services.”

“This office handles over 2,000 backlogged cases and conducts hundreds of in-person hearings every year,” Lawler, who represents a swing district, added in a statement. He said it was “completely unacceptable” to tell his constituents that they need to travel farther to receive the same service.

Other Republicans are publicly warning Musk and DOGE to tread lightly when slashing Social Security employees, as that carries negative impacts for seniors.

“First, we are not going to cut Social Security benefits. Secondly, we need to be so cautious [about] how we cut the workforce because customer service is inadequate now as it is,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who represents an Omaha-based swing district and is a perennial Democratic target, told NBC News. “Our goal needs to be improving the customer service. I know this firsthand. We had a death on our family and it has been hard to get someone to stop the payments.”

Yet amid those concerns, Republicans said they did not remember Social Security being a subject of conversation in private meetings with Musk. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said he did not recall Musk bringing up Social Security with senators during the billionaire’s closed-door meeting with them last month. A senior Senate GOP aide echoed Cramer, saying he did not think Musk “has really addressed Social Security much with senators at all.”

Social Security employees who spoke with NBC News, meanwhile, said Musk’s entitlement rhetoric and the administration’s recent moves have them increasingly concerned the administration will move to privatize Social Security.

“The stuff that [Musk is] saying is untrue, and he must know that what he’s saying is untrue, but he’s saying it to move the needle and turn public sentiment against Social Security so that privatization or vastly downsizing the workforce will seem like a good idea,” said one employee at the agency, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal.

A second Social Security employee said wait times are increasing for services, and employees are telling people to try and get any bank information changes in as soon as possible.

This person noted that elderly Social Security recipients who might not be tech-savvy and live far from a Social Security office are going to be most affected by the changes.

“It’s going to prevent people from getting their benefits,” this person said, adding that the effort amounts to “a very stealthy, very covert hostile takeover.”

Nancy Altman, the president of the advocacy group Social Security Works, argued that the Trump-Musk moves to slash and overhaul the Social Security Administration can do grave harm to benefits — even if Congress doesn’t act to change the program.

“What I see happening is that Donald Trump gets the politics, which is why he flooded the swing states with flyers saying he wouldn’t cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid,” Altman said. “So what is happening is an effort to undermine Social Security from within — with the idea that the benefits could be disrupted. It’s with the endgame, certainly, of outsourcing and privatizing the administration of it.”

Altman said giving Musk’s “DOGE teenagers and 20-year-olds in control of the Social Security Administration” access to seniors’ personal data creates data safety concerns that leave the program vulnerable to hackers and scammers — “a con artist’s dream,” she said. She argued that new rules requiring in-person office visits to register could mean that seniors who are disabled or immobile don’t end up getting benefits. And she warned that the removal of Social Security Administration workers will lead to weaker customer service and longer wait times for benefits.

At a time of division for Democrats, the battle to prevent Trump and Musk from shrinking the Social Security Administration is a unifying force.

At a press conference Tuesday in Brooklyn, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., faced questions about his disagreements with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on the GOP funding bill, but he said they’re united on protecting Social Security.

“We all align on the fights that are in front of us on behalf of the people that we represent here in Brooklyn and New York City and across the country,” Jeffries told reporters. “And that’s saving Medicaid, saving Social Security, saving Medicare — all of which Elon Musk and Donald Trump and the Republicans, they want to take a chain saw to Medicaid. They want to take a chain saw to Social Security.”

First-term Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Ore., who flipped a competitive district last fall, said she’s hearing from constituents who are anxious about Social Security changes, office closures and potential impacts to their benefits due to Musk’s actions.

“Maybe it’s good for billionaires like him, but it isn’t good for my constituents,” Bynum said. “And we have an unelected billionaire trying to cut what we know is an essential program for millions of Americans.”