Washington, D.C. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency wants to shrink the Social Security Administration by closing offices, reducing phone service, and putting in place new rules that require some potential recipients to register in person.
And DOGE is making these changes without talking to or telling some of the most senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill who are in charge of Social Security. These lawmakers include Trump supporters in the GOP.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is the head of the Senate Finance panel on Social Security. He said he wasn’t told about DOGE’s plans at the agency ahead of time.
He told NBC News, “No, I have not been.”
Grassley said again, “I have not been.” When asked if being told would help his job, he said, “yes.” “I haven’t been.”
In an interview, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said that he, too, hasn’t been aware of the changes made by the administration. On Tuesday, he questioned Trump’s choice to lead the Social Security Administration about long wait times for customer service.
He said, “No, we haven’t.” “The announcements haven’t been made public to me.”
Daines said he would like to know ahead of time about any changes the government makes to Social Security.
He said, “Yeah, I’d like to know about it.”
The White House did not talk to or give prior notice to Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who led joint efforts to change Social Security in recent years. Cassidy’s talks with Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, have not led to a compromise and seem to have been put on hold. This week, King criticised Musk and the administration for Social Security, which was not a nice thing to do.
Cassidy and King’s spokespeople refused to say anything. A White House spokeswoman did not answer when asked for comment.
Supporters of Social Security and Democrats in Congress see the changes that Musk is making to the agency as a way to make it harder for people to get benefits. They say that Musk’s hostile language, like when he recently called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” shows what he really wants.
“Because of what they did, fewer people will get help.” Democrats in the Senate, led by Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), said Tuesday, “This is just another way to kill Social Security.” “Cutting benefits would be very unpopular, so they can’t do it in public.” They’re just making it more difficult for you to get help. The same thing. Same bad end, different way to get there. People in the US aren’t buying it.
On Tuesday, Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which is in charge of Social Security, said that people who are against Trump are using “scare tactics.” He also said that the president “has said very clearly that we are not going to cut Social Security benefits.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said that DOGE is still working on hiring people to work at the Social Security Administration.
“Some people were fired, and then others were hired back.” Their search for the right numbers is still going on. “Of course, they should settle that as soon as possible,” Cornyn said. “We’re going through a time of change, and there will be both good and bad ones.” In the end, I don’t think Congress is the best place to make those kinds of choices about people.
Musk said that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme.” When asked about this, Cornyn said, “Well, I think I understand what he means by that: fewer and fewer people are working to support more and more people, and it can’t go on forever.” That’s something I agree with.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he supports DOGE when asked about Social Security because he hasn’t heard any complaints from people in his state.
He said, “I think they’ll do the right thing.” He also said that they knew it was their job to “answer the phones and take care of Social Security recipients” in Florida and other places.
DOGE isn’t the only one cutting back on government programmes without consulting Congress; Musk’s company is also doing this to Social Security.
Two Republican sources familiar with the situation say that when news first came out of the order Trump signed to shut down the Education Department, it wasn’t given to Cassidy, who is the top Republican on the committee that oversees the agency, and top aides weren’t told what the administration’s plans were either.
When Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth fired top military officers and lawyers at the Pentagon, not even the most powerful Republicans in the Senate, like Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chair of the Armed Services Committee, were given a formal report.
Some people in the White House, like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is a big backer of Trump and the war in Ukraine, didn’t understand the details of the talks that were going on between the White House and Russia to end the war.
This month, Graham talked about DOGE’s cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which handles foreign aid and humanitarian help. He said that communication between the administration and Congress was “bad” in the first few weeks of the administration.
“It was bad at first, but now it’s better.” “Things have gotten better since the president spoke at the Cabinet meeting and said, ‘We need a scalpel, not a hatchet,'” Graham said, referring to Trump’s words on March 6 after people in his Cabinet were upset with Musk. “Things are better now.”
