Howard Lutnick, the secretary of commerce, said in a new interview this week that only a “fraudster” would care if they missed their Social Security check.
That’s how Newsweek got in touch with the Department of Commerce to get their words.
Why it’s important
There are concerns that Social Security could run out of money by the 2030s if it doesn’t get a lot of changes. More than 71 million Americans depend on its payments. The benefits are a main source of income for disabled people, retirees, and the families of applicants who have died.
When he got back to the White House in January, President Donald Trump said he has no plans to end programs like Medicare and Social Security. However, there are still worries that the programs could be shut down or changed in big ways.
What You Need to Know
In an interview on the podcast All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks, and Friedberg, Lutnick talked about how he thinks Americans would react to not getting their Social Security check for a month.
During the appearance, Lutnick used his mother-in-law to show how the normal American would not complain about not getting their checks for a month, but someone hacking the system would.
“Let’s say that this month Social Security didn’t send out their checks. My wife’s mom is 94 years old, so she wouldn’t call and complain. She wouldn’t do it. “She’d think something went wrong, and she’d get it next month,” he said. “A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.”
He said the “easiest way to find a fraudster is to stop payments and listen” to “whoever screams.” He said that most people who get the check trust the government and would understand if they didn’t get it.
If you need to get to the people who are getting free money, taking money, or getting money in the wrong way, or if you have someone inside your company getting money, they will yell and scream. “But real Americans will be rewarded,” he said.
The Things People Say
In an opinion piece that came out Friday, Market Watch columnist Brett Arends said, “Musk and his DOGE team are cutting the number of people working at Social Security and closing branch offices. The comments are not likely to win friends or influence people, not even Republicans.”
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on X (which used to be Twitter), “Secretary Lutnick: You have a lot of money. Your mother-in-law might not be upset if she didn’t get her Social Security check, but tens of millions of seniors who are already having a hard time would. They are not con artists. They deserved it. How far out of touch are you to not know that?”
Is it okay to call and complain when you don’t get your Social Security check? That’s what New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said on X. If you do, you’re a “fraudster,” right? This is what the government is telling seniors who have worked their whole lives to get these benefits. Along those lines, Secretary Lutnick is a very rich person. He might not care if you don’t get your check, but I do.”
What Comes Next
The SSA said on Thursday that it will start collecting debts again right away through the Treasury Offset Program (TOP), which had been put on hold since 2020.
