During remarks on the Senate floor Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's comments on seniors missing their social security checks.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Now, on Donald Trump and Social Security.
00:03For 60 days, Donald Trump has waged a campaign of destruction against America's very foundations.
00:10Each step of the way, Leader Thune and the Republican majority have enabled his every
00:16whim.
00:18In just the last week alone, among many other things that he did that hurt the country,
00:23he has won.
00:25He has created pandemonium at the Social Security Administration.
00:30And two, he has signed an executive order closing down the Department of Education.
00:36Let me discuss each briefly.
00:38When it comes to the Department of Education, of course Donald Trump cannot proceed without
00:42an act of Congress.
00:44That's the law.
00:45Let me be clear.
00:46Let me be very clear.
00:48If Republicans ever, ever try to move a bill through the Senate that shuts down the Department
00:53of Education, Senate Democrats will halt it in its tracks.
00:58It will go nowhere.
00:59It will be dead on arrival.
01:03On Social Security, Senate Republicans should do their jobs and stand up to Donald Trump
01:08and Elon Musk's reckless behavior.
01:11In just a few days, a new policy will be implemented at the Social Security Administration, preventing
01:17Americans from signing up for benefits over the phone, which they have been able to do
01:22for a very long time.
01:24Seniors who can't drive themselves or use the internet will be in danger of losing benefits.
01:31As the Wall Street Journal says, dealing with Social Security is heading from bad to worse.
01:37There's no other way to describe this new policy.
01:39It is a direct attack from Donald Trump and Elon Musk on American seniors.
01:47Just because they're not stopping the checks directly that go to people, they're stopping
01:53people from getting them in indirect ways.
01:57Just as bad when you don't have the money that you desperately need for drugs, for food,
02:04for rent.
02:06And it's all part of DOJ's two-faced efforts to root out fraud within Social Security.
02:13The fraud that everyone knows does not exist.
02:16In fact, a judge last week called DOJ's fraud hunt little more than a quote, fishing expedition.
02:24We all know Donald Trump and Elon Musk's real goal.
02:27They want to run Social Security to the ground.
02:32They want to starve it, strain it, make it unworkable for the American people.
02:37They want to make Social Security so dysfunctional, so chaotic, so unworkable in order to justify
02:43cutting benefits for the American people.
02:46And if the American people don't believe this is coming directly from Donald Trump,
02:51just listen to his address to Congress, where he spent 10 minutes, a full 10 minutes, spreading
02:58lie after lie about fraud, about checks to people who are 150 or 200 years old.
03:08People who say Donald Trump isn't serious about attacking Social Security were not paying
03:12attention to what he said in his speech.
03:15Of course, those people weren't getting the checks.
03:19Donald Trump wanted to ridicule and demean Social Security, which so many of our seniors
03:24depend on.
03:26Americans of course are outraged.
03:29Of course they're afraid.
03:30But the administration's response has been utterly heartless and cruel.
03:35And listen to this.
03:37Last week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that most seniors won't mind if
03:43the government skipped a payment.
03:46Let me read his quote directly.
03:47Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month, said Lutnick.
03:53My mother-in-law, who's 94, she wouldn't call and complain.
03:56She'll get it next month.
03:59Of course his mother-in-law isn't worried.
04:02She could call her very wealthy son for a little help.
04:07Her very wealthy son-in-law for a little help.
04:11Yeah, if every senior had a billionaire son-in-law, they wouldn't worry about not getting their
04:16check.
04:18Most people aren't so lucky.
04:21To call this out of touch doesn't even begin to describe it.
04:24Does Mr. Lutnick realize that a lot of seniors are living paycheck to paycheck?
04:31That without even one check, they don't have enough money for food or medicine or the rent?
04:38To call this out of touch doesn't even begin to describe it.
04:43It's delusional.
04:44But so far, unfortunately, we have not heard a peep from the Republican leader or the Republican
04:50majority about the crisis happening to Social Security.
04:54I ask our Republican majority, I ask every Republican senator sitting in this chamber,
05:02who sits in this chamber.
05:05I ask the Republican senators, are they fine with Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the Social
05:11Security Administration?
05:13Do they agree with Donald Trump and Elon Musk that Social Security is a scam?
05:18Do they agree with Howard Lutnick that seniors will be okay with missing a payment?
05:23If not, where is the outrage from Senate Republicans?
05:28The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, is on the brink of detonating one of the most
05:34sacred social programs in America.
05:37And Republicans are completely silent.
05:40It's deafening, their silence.
05:43Instead of standing on the sidelines, Leader Thune, Senate Republicans should be using
05:48their majority to protect seniors' benefits.
05:51But they aren't doing that.
05:54Committees should be taking swift action.
05:57They should be writing letters to Musk, telling him to get his hands off the people's benefits.
06:03If Democrats win the majority, the crisis happening to Social Security right now would
06:09be agenda item number one.
06:12Leader Thune and Republican majority, meanwhile, are sleepwalking in the middle of the gravest
06:19danger Social Security has faced, perhaps in its history.
06:23If seniors miss out on benefits, the political blowback from the American people will be
06:29nothing short of immense.