During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke about President Trump's remarks about Social Security during his congressional address.
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NewsTranscript
00:00State of the Union Address was quite a performance by President Trump.
00:04Maybe one of the highlights of humor was when he focused on the Social Security Administration.
00:09Remember what he told us? 4.7 million, quote, Social Security members, that's the term he used,
00:164.7 million Social Security members were between 100 and 109 years old.
00:22He went on to say that 1.3 million between the ages of 150 and 159,
00:29130,000 over the age of 160, Social Security members, this is the President's words,
00:35and he goes on to talk about 1,039 between the age of 220 and 229,
00:42even one 360-year-old person.
00:46The place was rocking with laughter to think that a federal agency as important as Social Security
00:51could be defrauded by people claiming to be this age and still receive checks.
00:57What a great joke.
00:59What a misrepresentation of truth.
01:02What the President said was not true.
01:04It was misleading.
01:06It was overblown. It was inaccurate.
01:08In fact, it was just plain wrong.
01:11He delivered this address at a joint session of Congress to the American people,
01:15the one time each year when we are focused on the President's words,
01:19and he made these deliberate misrepresentations of the Social Security Administration.
01:24He claimed that the unelected billionaire Elon Musk and his Doge boys
01:28had identified, quote, shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud within Social Security.
01:35Mr. Musk then claimed at a later point that tens of millions of dead people over the age of 100
01:42are still receiving Social Security benefits.
01:44Outrageous. Outrageous and untrue.
01:48In his speech, President Trump claimed there was a 360-year-old
01:52somehow receiving Social Security benefits as a member.
01:56I'm not sure what that means.
01:58Obviously, it raised eyebrows.
02:00How could somebody born in the 1600s be receiving Social Security benefits?
02:06Turned out it wasn't true.
02:08What the President said was misleading and untrue, not truthful.
02:12The Social Security Administration has databases that include the information on millions of Americans.
02:18Some of those records lack a recorded date of death.
02:21But, of course, that certainly doesn't mean that the people are still alive.
02:26And it certainly doesn't mean further that they're receiving any Social Security benefits.
02:30The Washington Post obtained internal records
02:33which show the Social Security Administration looked into this very issue last month.
02:38What did they find?
02:41Only 1,300 Americans over the age of 100 were still receiving benefits.
02:46That's far short of the, quote, shocking levels, the President said,
02:50of incompetence and probable fraud.
02:53Excuse me.
02:55The truth is you'd be hard-pressed to find another agency
02:58that is more closely scrutinized than Social Security.
03:01It routinely audits benefit payments to make sure they're accurate.
03:04The Office of Inspector General conducted a report in 2024
03:09which found that less than 1% of Social Security payments were improper.
03:14Less than 1%.
03:17But President Trump's statement made it seem like Social Security is riddled with fraud and incompetence.
03:22Payments to a 360-year-old individual? Outrageous. Untrue.
03:28You wonder why he said these things to the American people in his State of the Union address.
03:33I believe President Trump and Mr. Musk are intentionally misrepresenting the challenges Social Security faces
03:39as the rationale to implement their harmful policies.
03:43The Trump Administration's disdain for Social Security is clear.
03:47Elon Musk, the President's unelected buddy,
03:51described Social Security, quote,
03:53the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time, said Mr. Musk,
03:57and shared a post on Twitter that called those who benefit from federal programs,
04:01get ready, quote, the parasite class.
04:05The parasite class, Social Security recipients.
04:08And Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick called Americans who were calling in
04:12to report missing Social Security benefits, fraudsters.
04:16This same billionaire, Mr. Lutnick, bragged that his mother-in-law
04:20wouldn't care if she didn't receive a monthly paycheck, a monthly check from Social Security.
04:25Well, perhaps the son-in-law of a billionaire,
04:29or if your son-in-law is a billionaire, you don't care.
04:32But most people don't live that kind of life.
04:34These comments are not only wrong and misleading, they are sickening.
04:38Sickening.
04:39These people worked their whole lives paying into Social Security
04:42with the promise it would take care of them when they decided to retire.
04:46And now the question is being raised as to whether they were parasites throughout their lives.
04:51First, this disdain for Social Security and the Americans who rely on it
04:58can be found in the policies that are being pushed by the administration.
05:03The president announced that 7,000 workers at Social Security will be terminated.
05:077,000.
05:09That's 12% of the total Social Security workforce
05:12at a time when the Social Security administration is facing a 50-year staffing low.
05:17Second, the president announced that Social Security will limit 1-800 phone services.
05:22It already takes a half an hour to reach a representative at Social Security.
05:26Now there are reports it's taking several hours to get a call picked up if you have a question.
05:31Nearly 9,000 people become eligible for Social Security benefits every single day.
05:37They should not have to wait hours to speak with someone if they have a legitimate question.
05:41Third, President Trump announced the closure of Social Security offices across America,
05:46including some in my state of Illinois.
05:49I ran into an individual at a coffee shop in Springfield a few weeks ago.
05:53He's retired now, and he said,
05:55Senator, it was smarter for me to get in the car and drive 40 minutes each way
05:59to Litchfield, Illinois, to the Social Security office
06:02rather than wait in line for hours at the Springfield office.
06:06Each one of the actions taken by the Trump administration
06:09has made it more difficult for seniors and people with disabilities to access their benefits.
06:14Americans are worried, some are even terrified,
06:17questioning whether or not they will continue to have access to earned benefits and essential services.
06:22How do I know? Many have written to me.
06:25Carolyn from Chicago recently told me she tried to call Social Security to make an appointment.
06:30She was told the wait time on the phone was 120 minutes.
06:34She waited the two hours, but still couldn't get to speak to someone,
06:38hung up, tried again later, and was told again, another 120-minute wait.
06:43Imagine waiting on hold for two hours for your phone call not to be picked up.
06:48Carolyn told me the level of service from Social Security right now is unacceptable.
06:52She's kind, and she's right.
06:55Americans depend on Social Security and its workers to pick up the phone,
06:58answer the questions, and help them secure their benefits.
07:01Social Security is a bedrock of American society.
07:04It is a promise.
07:06Almost all of us contribute to it throughout our lives,
07:09expecting it will be there when we need it.
07:11But as usual, President Trump is making the problem even worse.
07:15Since 2010, Social Security's customer service budget has been reduced by 20%,
07:20counting for inflation.
07:22Staff has fallen by 11%,
07:24while 13 million additional beneficiaries have started to receive benefits.
07:29For too long, we've asked the Social Security Administration to do more with less,
07:32and now President Trump has taken that to an extreme.
07:36So I'm calling on him to abandon these plans.
07:39If you actually want to make Social Security more efficient,
07:41it needs more well-trained people, more resources, more funding.
07:46We do not need the recent college graduates in the so-called Department of Government Efficiency
07:51taking Social Security for a joyride
07:54while their grandparents are in the back holding on for dear life.
07:57And we certainly don't need the sage advice of billionaires
08:00who cannot begin to understand what it means to live month to month
08:05waiting for your Social Security check as so many Americans do.
08:08Mr. President, I yield the floor.