On Tuesday, Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), held a press briefing on Social Security.
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00:00don't know what it feels like to rely on a Social Security check.
00:06They don't know and they don't care.
00:09So they are trying to rip away those Social Security checks
00:14so they can help fund tax breaks for billionaires.
00:18That seems fair to them.
00:20Social Security is not charity.
00:23It is not some giveaway.
00:25Social Security is something that people earned by paying into it
00:29for all of their working years.
00:31It is a sacred promise that if you pay into the system when you retire,
00:37you can count on these benefits.
00:40Right now, Trump and Musk are breaking that promise
00:43for 70 million Americans who receive Social Security benefits.
00:48Over half of seniors who rely on Social Security
00:52use it to pay for their food on the table and a roof over their heads.
00:58Elon Musk makes $8 million a day from the federal government
01:04and he wants to take away the $65 a day
01:09that the average Social Security recipient gets.
01:12This is really ugly.
01:15Trump and Musk know that they don't have the votes in Congress
01:18to cut Social Security,
01:20so instead they're trying backdoor cuts
01:24by dismantling the agency that makes sure
01:27that Americans get the benefits they are legally entitled to.
01:31Musk is cutting off phone services for seniors who need help.
01:35Musk is shutting down offices around the country.
01:38Musk is firing thousands of workers
01:41who make sure that the Social Security system works
01:45and that checks go out to the people who are legally entitled to receive them.
01:51When there's a mistake and when someone can't get that mistake corrected
01:55and start their Social Security benefits on time,
01:58that is a benefits cut.
02:01When there is a mistake and fixing that mistake is just too hard to manage
02:06because no one answers the phone and the local Social Security office is closed
02:11and the line at the other office is hours long
02:15and someone finally just gives up,
02:18that is a benefits cut.
02:20When checks get delayed and seniors have to borrow money to pay rent
02:25or they have to go without food,
02:27that is a benefits cut.
02:30Every one of those changes is effectively a backdoor cut
02:34to the benefits that the law guarantees to every Social Security recipient.
02:40Trump and Musk can't cut benefits directly,
02:44so they think they can get away with indirect cuts,
02:47but Democrats are here to fight them every step of the way.
02:53Senate Democrats are united in saying,
02:57Trump and Musk, keep your hands off our Social Security.
03:02We are fighting back on behalf of every senior,
03:06on behalf of every single parent of a kid with disabilities
03:11who is supported by Social Security,
03:13on behalf of every single person currently paying into the program
03:18for later on down the line,
03:20and for every American who cares that our seniors can retire with some dignity.
03:28We need to get our priorities straight.
03:30We should be expanding Social Security benefits, not cutting them.
03:35And we should be asking the richest Americans
03:38to contribute a fair share to the program.
03:41It is time to fight for Social Security.
03:45We can protect Social Security from Trump and Musk's greed
03:50and build a future where everyone in this nation can retire with dignity.
03:56And that is why we are here today,
03:58and that is why we are launching the Social Security war room.
04:03We are here to fight back.
04:05And with that, I call on my fellow fighter, Senator Ron Wyden.
04:10Thank you, Senator Warren and the leaders here,
04:13and I'm going to be brief.
04:15First of all, I think we're here because Social Security is under attack.
04:21Social Security is under siege.
04:24The chainsaw is pointed at their earned Social Security benefits.
04:30We believe Republicans have manufactured a crisis of Social Security,
04:34and the reality is Social Security would be fully funded for generations
04:39if Congress eliminated the payroll tax cut for billionaires
04:44and collected the money that they are illegally evading in taxes.
04:49So they're getting a head start by laying off people
04:53who are responsible for collecting taxes owed by the wealthy
04:57and making it harder for Americans to get their benefits.
05:01Here's two examples.
05:03First is customer service over the phone.
05:05Everybody knows that the wait time to get a hold of a human being
05:08in Social Security is way too long.
05:11Instead of strengthening the system or getting more people to answer the phone,
05:15the Musk agenda is prohibiting using phones to make benefit claims
05:19or resolve most issues that require verifying your identity.
05:24Now, Musk knows that this is unpopular.
05:27So late last week, Trump's DOJ appointees made a big show of saying
05:31they were delaying the change for all of two weeks
05:35and exempting some groups.
05:38The fact is they've doubled down by saying retirees and widowers
05:42will still be locked out of the phone system
05:44for most meaningful customer service.
05:47That's the first way.
05:49They're making it harder for people to get their benefits.
05:51The second is closing offices.
05:53Once again, Trump appointed officials at Social Security
05:56are trying to pull a fast one and trick Americans about what they're doing.
06:01For example, they're saying that Social Security isn't closing any field offices,
06:06but DOJ has taken over the General Services Administration,
06:10which handles the government's leases.
06:13According to the press, 47 offices have had their leases terminated,
06:1726 offices even have a date set for closure.
06:21They're in Ohio, they're in North Carolina, they're in Georgia.
06:24The list goes on and on.
06:27So what we're going to be clear here is the Trump forces aren't afraid to gaslight
06:32about what's really going on with Social Security.
06:35We saw this last week when the Trump nominee to run the program
06:40failed to tell the truth multiple times about his involvement with DOJ
06:44after a whistleblower came forward with testimony
06:47that contradicted the nominee's answers.
06:50Then a veteran journalist at the Washington Post confirmed
06:54what the whistleblower was saying.
06:56So the nominee disregarded career staff cautions, for example,
07:01about privacy safeguards to rush through a DOJ agent charged with sifting
07:06through American-sensitive personal information.
07:09He didn't tell the truth about coordinating with DOJ officials.
07:13He didn't tell the truth to the Senate
07:15and to the bipartisan committee staff that met with him.
07:18So today when we had consideration of the nominee, I said my top priority,
07:24the top priority of Senate Democrats is not voting today on this nominee
07:30who was not truthful in the process.
07:33We weren't granted that request.
07:35So today I've also made it clear that I'm going to work with the leader
07:39and make sure that this nominee faces every single opportunity
07:45to tell the truth before they put this nominee on the floor
07:49of the United States Senate.
07:51We know the majority controls the schedule,
07:53but they don't understand what a fight they're going to have
07:56if they put this nominee out there before they've answered the bipartisan questions
08:01about the truthfulness of what he has said to the American people.
08:05Not telling the truth for a position like this signals to me
08:09that you aren't going to tell the truth if you get confirmed,
08:12and that is everything that Senate Democrats stand against.
08:15We're not going to stop calling out these lies
08:18and rallying the American people to stand fully against these attacks on Social Security.
08:24The war room is just the beginning, just the beginning,
08:28and I appreciate Senator Warren working with us.
08:31And next we'll hear from the leader.
08:35Thank you very much.
08:36I thank Senators Warren and Wyden for leading this,
08:39and thank my colleagues Senator Coons and Smith and Schatz for being here.
08:47Look, Social Security has always been the third rail in American politics.
08:52You touch it, you get burnt.
08:54George W. Bush learned that the hard way.
08:57This Trump-Doge-Musk vote administration is in such a bubble,
09:07they don't understand it.
09:10They are so frothing at the mouth for tax cuts for the wealthy
09:16that they're willing to even touch Social Security.
09:20And they're not just touching it, they're trying to destroy it.
09:25They're trying to strangle it.
09:27When you shut off phone lines, when you close offices, when you increase wait times,
09:31three years for someone on disability to get Social Security, make no mistake about it,
09:36they're trying to strangle Social Security so it has no more life in it.
09:41That's their goal.
09:43It's incredible.
09:44I mean, we're incredulous.
09:46We never thought as harsh and right-wing as a Republican administration is
09:51that they would actually try to kill Social Security,
09:54and they are doing that by strangling it,
09:58by doing all the things that have been mentioned here.
10:00And there's an outcry everywhere in the country.
10:03White Plains, they shut the office.
10:05200,000 people use that office.
10:07Elmira, Chemung County, a Republican county, they shut that office.
10:12Now there's huge pressure from the local Republican congressman
10:15to try and open it up again.
10:17Who knows what will happen?
10:19So it's amazing what they're trying to do.
10:22And their callousness, their in-the-bubbleness, if that's a word or adjective, is incredible.
10:31I could not believe that the Secretary of Commerce said his mother-in-law wouldn't miss a check.
10:39It was incredible.
10:41Raise your hand here if you have a mother-in-law who has a billionaire son-in-law.
10:47They're the only ones with this.
10:51And, you know, Musk is often the truth-teller here.
10:53He's so arrogant, he doesn't care, and he says our job is to kill it.
10:58That's what he said.
11:00And we take him at his word that that's what they want to do,
11:02but he better take us at our word that we're going to do everything we can
11:06to stop them from touching Social Security.
11:09And another tell, the guy they want to put in charge, Bisognano.
11:15I knew him when he was a businessman in New York,
11:20and businesses would bring him on board if they wanted a cut, cut, cut.
11:25You don't bring Bisognano on board to head the agency if you want to strengthen it.
11:30You bring him on if you want to emaciate it.
11:34And that's what he has done.
11:36So it is so good to see all the Democrats opposed.
11:40Putting Bisognano as head of Social Security is hiring an arsonist to run the fire station, plain and simple.
11:48So they don't care.
11:51Musk says it's a Ponzi scheme.
11:53Tell that.
11:54Tell that to a 78-year-old woman who needs her check to buy medicines that keep her alive each month,
12:02who needs that $1,100.
12:04Tell that.
12:05Tell her she's part of a grand Ponzi scheme after she put in money week after week
12:11and month after month and year after year so she knew in retirement she'd never get rich,
12:16but at least she could afford the bare necessities like food and drugs.
12:22Finally, it is a great, great idea that Senators Warren and Wyden have had to dedicate a war room
12:32because one thing we have to do is show how bad it is or lay out how bad it is,
12:40but second, we've got to reach the American people.
12:43And the war room will do all the things we are doing.
12:46It's going to do oversight work.
12:48It's going to do social media posts.
12:51It's going to get all of us to visit local offices.
12:54We'll host town halls.
12:56AARP is doing lots of town halls in all of our states.
12:59They're allied with us.
13:02And we'll be calling on our Republican colleagues to wake up.
13:08As I said yesterday, not on Social Security but on Medicaid,
13:11I was within three Republican districts demanding that those Republicans vote no on this budget,
13:19which is so devastating to people on Medicaid, and we're all doing that as well.
13:25And that's why they're reeling.
13:27That's why they're having trouble putting together a budget, a reconciliation budget,
13:33because the American people are catching on to how bad, how terrible this administration is for them,
13:41and the war room will make sure on Social Security people know that very, very well.
13:47I thank my colleagues.
13:49And Senator Kelly is here too.
13:54And next up is another great fighter, and that is the senator from Minnesota, Senator Smith.
14:00Thank you so much.
14:01Good morning, everyone, or still morning.
14:04Thank you to Senator Warren and Senator Wyden and all of my colleagues
14:08for launching this Social Security war room.
14:11So since Elon Musk and Doge took over the Social Security Administration last month,
14:16we can see that this administration is intent on dismantling Social Security
14:22and cutting millions of Americans' benefits,
14:25including more than one million Minnesotans that rely on Social Security,
14:29a program that they paid into and that they earned.
14:32President Trump and Elon Musk's move-fast-and-break-things mentality is breaking Social Security.
14:38Musk recently called Social Security the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time
14:42and described entitlement spending as the big one to eliminate.
14:46Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that if Social Security checks didn't go out,
14:50it seems he thought that his 94-year-old mother-in-law would just wait for the next month
14:55for her Social Security check.
14:57Well, I have got news for Secretary Lutnick.
14:59When people don't get their Social Security checks, they're not waiting for the next check.
15:03They're waiting for their next meal.
15:05Social Secretary Lutnick obviously is not in touch with the reality that 22 million Americans,
15:11including more than 16 million seniors, would be living in poverty but for Social Security.
15:17And acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudnick threatened to shut down the entire agency
15:23in a fit after a federal judge informed him that DOJ is not allowed to root around in people's private data.
15:30President Trump understands that Americans love Social Security,
15:33and so he's claimed that his administration won't touch it.
15:37But that is not what's happening, and Americans can see it.
15:40President Trump and Elon Musk are crippling Social Security.
15:43They're making it nearly impossible for people to get their benefits.
15:47And the Trump administration and Elon Musk are simultaneously trying to fire the people
15:52who make the Social Security system work, close field offices,
15:55and then require seniors and others who need those services to visit offices
16:00just to prove they can get the money that is actually theirs already.
16:06So you can call this rank incompetence, or you can call it a don't-know-don't-care game plan,
16:11but what it looks like to me is sabotage.
16:14If Republicans are trying to save Social Security, this is a pretty funny way to go about it.
16:19So I want to tell you that the public servants at Social Security don't feel like they're winning this.
16:25They feel like they're losing, and so do the American people as well.
16:28And that's why we're gathered together to have this fight.
16:31Thank you so much, Senator Warren and Senator Wyden, for pulling us together and doing this work.
16:36Thank you. Thank you, Senator Smith.
16:38And now from the great state of Hawaii, another terrific fighter on this issue, Senator Schatz.
16:46Thank you to you all.
16:48If there's one thing I want everyone in this room to remember, it is this.
16:54Social Security is the most successful anti-poverty program in American history, bar none.
17:03It is efficient. It is popular. It is universal. It works.
17:10It has reduced poverty for seniors and the disabled over many generations.
17:17In the state of Hawaii, we have about 300,000 Social Security recipients,
17:23and the average Social Security check is about $1,950 per month.
17:30The average rent in Honolulu exceeds the average Social Security check.
17:38The majority of people across the country who receive Social Security benefits
17:44use that as either all of their income or their primary source of income.
17:51And so the idea that you're going to realize savings by stealing,
17:57and I use that word intentionally, stealing money that people paid into over a lifetime of work
18:06in order to generate savings for what? More tax cuts for billionaires?
18:11We are here to say no.
18:16This is not actually a partisan issue until 60 days ago.
18:24It was the third rail, but boy, they are grabbing it with both hands, aren't they?
18:32And make no mistake, they have not yet enacted Social Security cuts through a new law,
18:38but they are cutting Social Security right now. Wait times have doubled.
18:43There are a lot of people who can't just jump on the Internet and access their benefits.
18:50They may not have Internet. They may not have a computer.
18:54They may have language access problems.
18:58They may be blind like my father-in-law, can't just jump on a laptop and navigate a website.
19:07We will be damned if we let this happen, and I don't just mean Democrats.
19:11I mean this country. There is a lot at stake.
19:15There are 70 million people who are counting on us to fight back, and we will.
19:23Thank you, Senator Schott. And now from the state of Delaware, we have Senator Coons.
19:33Ask older Americans what they think of Social Security.
19:38Ask Delawareans. Ask Americans what they think Social Security is,
19:43and they'll tell you it's an earned benefit, a vital lifeline, the thing that keeps them out of poverty,
19:50the thing that pays for their medication, that helps them afford rent,
19:55that allows them to live decently and safely.
19:59It is an absolute foundation on which 70 million Americans depend.
20:06Just this Sunday at church, a friend, a retired minister, came up to me trembling and said,
20:13I just checked, and Social Security through their website says they don't have an account for me.
20:21What will happen if my check doesn't come?
20:26Ask Elon Musk, the richest man on earth, what he thinks of Social Security,
20:31and he'll tell you it's a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme is a fraud.
20:35A Ponzi scheme is a fake. A Ponzi scheme is a theft.
20:40And I'll tell you, more Delawareans call my office, reach out to me,
20:46grab my elbow as I'm heading onto the train, knock on my door to ask urgently,
20:52is Social Security safe from Doge getting into my information,
20:58from cuts to the service hours and time and access?
21:02More Delawareans ask me urgently about Social Security than any other federal program.
21:10Ask Kathleen what she thinks of Social Security, and she'll say this, and I quote,
21:16I'm a 64-year-old disabled woman. I'm concerned about my Social Security disability.
21:22I am totally dependent on my check, and I'm terrified of what's going on with Doge.
21:29I will be homeless if anything happens to my disability check.
21:34Over and over, week after week, all of my colleagues hear the same thing from the people we represent.
21:42And for decades, there's been deep bipartisan support for sustaining, for strengthening Social Security.
21:51Until now, Elon Musk said the quiet part out loud, that they intend to slash benefits
21:58to help pay for tax cuts for billionaires and their buddies.
22:03I cannot think of a more immoral thing to do.
22:07I cannot think of a more wrong course of action than to slash health care benefits
22:13and access to the earned support of Social Security,
22:17simply to fund even bigger tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans and most profitable companies.
22:25House Republicans have made it clear their goal is to cut $2 trillion in spending
22:31to pay for their reconciliation bill.
22:33You can't do that without cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
22:39Social Security is not a giveaway. It's not riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse.
22:45And Democrats are united in protecting it.
22:49We need to strengthen Social Security, not cut it.
22:53And I stand with my colleagues and every Democrat in the Senate
22:57in saying, hands off Social Security, President Trump, and Elon Musk.
23:03Thank you. And now from Arizona, Senator Kelly.
23:09Thank you, everybody, for being here.
23:12I've got a lot of retired folks in the state of Arizona that are really freaked out about this.
23:17We hear it all the time.
23:19My parents, my grandparents relied on Social Security.
23:25They would have been in a really bad spot if they were alive today, all of them.
23:32When Elon Musk called Social Security a Ponzi scheme,
23:35the president should have fired him immediately from his government job.
23:40He's got plenty of resources. He would have been fine.
23:44Seniors are not going to be fine if he continues in this rampage on this program.
23:53This isn't the government's money.
23:55This is money that these seniors have earned through a lifetime of hard work.
24:01During COVID, I delivered Meals on Wheels.
24:06And on a number of days, I showed up at seniors homes who needed lunch and dinner.
24:16And I went inside of some of these homes and I talked to them about how important
24:22this food was to them.
24:25These seniors exist all over the country.
24:29They rely on this income, often as their only source of income.
24:36To a person, it would have been devastating to them and their finances.
24:44And they're wrecking Social Security, make no mistake.
24:47They're firing staff. They're cutting services.
24:49They're making it harder for Americans to get a real person on the phone.
24:56And they're telling them to show up at the office.
24:58And then when they get to the office, they're telling them to go online.
25:02This is cutting Social Security. This is exactly what they're doing.
25:08President Trump said he wouldn't cut Social Security.
25:11But I'll tell you this, if even one American is denied from getting benefits
25:15that they've earned, they are breaking the promise.
25:19So with all of this, we are going to be laser-focused on hearing from Americans
25:24about their stories. We're going to amplify them.
25:27We're going to talk to the American people about how this is going to impact them
25:31and their family members in the future.
25:33And we're not going to let President Trump and Elon Musk break this promise
25:38to the American people. Thank you.
25:41Ron, you want to come over? Or all of you?
25:43All of them.
25:44We're here to take questions about the Social Security war room. Yes, sir.
25:48Yeah, I wanted to give you guys a chance to respond.
25:50Elon Musk spoke last week.
25:52He said, quote, as a result of the work of those legitimate recipients of Social Security,
25:56we'll receive more money, not less money.
25:59He basically said you guys were lying in your accusation against him.
26:02What do you make of this?
26:03So where are Elon Musk's receipts for that?
26:06Elon Musk has cut access to Social Security.
26:10For tens of millions of people who are legally entitled to those benefits.
26:16That is a benefit cut.
26:19And I don't care what words Elon Musk wants to use.
26:22It is clear that is what he has done.
26:24And we know that was exactly his intention because he said the quiet part out loud.
26:30He intends to get rid of the Social Security system.
26:34He has said so. It is time for us to pay attention.
26:38Not just as Democrats. We are on the case here.
26:41Not just as seniors who take advantage of the benefits that they are legally entitled to.
26:46But as a nation, we all need to stand up and get rid of Elon Musk
26:53and tell Donald Trump to keep his hands off our Social Security.
26:58And the reality is what he's doing is so unpopular.
27:04And the American people have caught on and he's trying to play games to cover it up.
27:10For example, he knows that the phone changes are enormously unpopular.
27:14So late last week, he made this big show of saying that they were delaying the change
27:20for all of two weeks and exempting some groups.
27:24And they went out and made huge fanfare as if all the phone policies
27:29which people were so angry about had somehow been changed
27:33and in effect they made this itty-bitty change
27:36and we tried to tell the American people, and this is what the war room is going to do,
27:40hey, they're gaslighting the American people and families
27:44by misrepresenting what's going on.
27:46Can you talk a little bit more about the goals of the war room
27:50and what we should expect from the group?
27:52Sure. I'm glad you do this, but does anyone else want to weigh in?
27:54Go ahead. You want to? Anybody?
27:57Go ahead.
27:58Okay. All right.
28:01Look, 100% of the Democrats and independents are laser-focused on this issue.
28:08We are fighting back alongside tens of millions of Americans.
28:12The war room is about getting that effort organized.
28:15It is about oversight that we are obligated to do as members of the United States Senate.
28:21It is about having a place to bring the stories
28:25so we can have all of the American people privy to what we hear when we're back home
28:31so they can hear the stories about what it means that you may not be able to afford rent,
28:37that you may not be able to afford food, and to get those stories out.
28:42We will use this war room as an opportunity to focus the energy around saving our Social Security.
28:51And understand this, when American people get a chance to weigh in on Social Security,
28:58there's a lot of energy, and not just a lot of energy to preserve the status quo,
29:02a lot of energy to make Social Security stronger.
29:06And that is what Democrats fight for.
29:09It is time to strengthen the Social Security, not let Musk and Trump kill it.
29:17Thanks, everyone.
29:19All right.