Senate Democrats held a press briefing on Wednesday on DOGE cuts to the Social Security Administration.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon, everybody, and I want to thank everyone for joining me.
00:13Senator Wyden, our ranking member on finance, he's been such a great leader on this issue
00:17as has everyone else here.
00:20Senator Cantwell, Senator Van Hollen, and Senator Markey is expected.
00:26So look, we all know how important Social Security is.
00:28It's almost sacred in America since Franklin Roosevelt passed it.
00:33It's one of the most popular programs that we have in the country.
00:37Seventy-three million seniors depend on Social Security.
00:44The check they get each month helps pay for their food, their medicine, their rent, their
00:49mortgage if they still have a mortgage.
00:52And this administration is intent on slashing Social Security so that they can get more
01:00tax breaks for their billionaire buddies.
01:03I never thought I'd see the day, but that's what's happening.
01:07And if you don't believe us, listen to them.
01:09Musk says it's a Ponzi scheme.
01:12Tell the 78-year-old lady who needs it for medicine that it's a Ponzi scheme, that she
01:18shouldn't get her check.
01:20Trump spent 10 minutes lying about Social Security when he addressed the joint session.
01:27And now we have the Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Lutnick, saying his mother-in-law wouldn't
01:34mind missing a check.
01:36Well, no mother-in-law would miss minding a check if they have a billionaire son-in-law.
01:42It's outrageous, the callousness, the meanness, the viciousness of what they're doing.
01:48Now their goal is clear, destroy Social Security from within.
01:55Make it so unworkable, so inefficient, that Donald Trump has the pretext to slash benefits
02:02to kill it and then privatize the program.
02:06Because it's very clear what's happening right now.
02:11What they're doing is, in effect, a benefit cut.
02:15Politicians across America aren't getting the help they need to get their checks.
02:19They're closing offices.
02:21I believe they intend to close 60 percent of all the Social Security offices.
02:27The citizens in Chemung County in New York, in Elmira, I just was speaking to them, were
02:34outraged that they're closing that office.
02:37They're closing the White Plains office, which 200,000 people come to every year.
02:45And what is the intent?
02:48Kill Social Security by strangling it, by not letting it work, by making it so that
02:58it's impossible for people to get their help and their benefits.
03:037,000 workers being laid off.
03:07You know what that means?
03:08Some people could wait up to three years to get their benefits.
03:12That's what they're doing.
03:14And it is simply, simply outrageous.
03:18The acting commissioner, handpicked by Doge, said Musk's claims of fraud are false.
03:27And Musk, by the way, at one point said, let's eliminate it.
03:31They've revealed their true colors.
03:34Trump and Musk are just eroding the American dream.
03:40They're rigging the system for billionaires, while stealing from the elderly, from the
03:45disabled, to cut taxes for their billionaire club.
03:50Senate Republicans, every Senate Republican, should be demanding that Musk reverse the
03:57firings.
03:58If they believe in Social Security, then they ought to be telling Musk, stop.
04:05But Senate Republicans are just silent, letting it happen.
04:09They're afraid of Trump.
04:11Now yesterday, at the hearing in the Finance Committee, which Ron and Maria were at, we
04:17heard from Trump's pick to lead the Social Security Administration, Frank Bisognano.
04:25To confirm Mr. Bisognano as head of Social Security, is hiring an arsonist to run the
04:32fire station.
04:34I've known this guy for 20 years.
04:36He's a cutter.
04:38Companies bring him in to slash benefits, to slash, rather, companies bring him in to
04:45slash workers, and he, his fame, his claim to fame is cutting and shrinking.
04:55The last person we need to run the Social Security office, President Trump, if he cares
05:03at all about Social Security, should withdraw his nomination immediately.
05:10This man should not be running Social Security.
05:14Trump said in his campaign he wanted to preserve Social Security.
05:18He's already dismantling it, and with Bisognano, he's likely to destroy it.
05:25President Trump, withdraw his name now.
05:29Time is short to stop permanent damage to Social Security.
05:34If Republicans continue to do it, the political backlash will just be unprecedented.
05:39Ron.
05:40MR.
05:41BERRYONSKI Thank you, Leader Schumer, and let me bring you up to date on yesterday.
05:49The Finance Committee and the American people yesterday saw a gobsmacking performance by
05:55the nominee to run Social Security.
05:58As Donald Trump and Elon Musk and their cronies rampaged through Social Security, disrupting
06:04customer service for seniors and Americans with disabilities and threatening their earned
06:10benefits, we heard truly ominous testimony from the nominee to run this program.
06:18Republicans want to see some reassurances that a steady hand would be put in place to
06:24right the ship and to make Social Security drama-free.
06:28Instead, this nominee, Frank Bisognano, lied to the Senate Finance Committee about his
06:37involvement with DOJ since his nomination in December.
06:43Here's what happened.
06:44A whistleblower reached out to my staff, and their testimony shows that the nominee appears
06:51to be the puppet master behind the chaos at Social Security.
06:57Last night, after the hearing, the Washington Post newspaper spoke to multiple sources and
07:03independently verified the whistleblower's account.
07:08So this development in the last 24 hours has created a trust gap between the nominee and
07:13the American people before he's even in the door.
07:17He handpicked DOJ agents and pressured Social Security employees to cut corners to get them
07:27on the job faster.
07:29He told Social Security staff not to hire anybody without his explicit approval.
07:36He was aware of plans to shutter regional offices, close the offices of civil rights,
07:41anti-fraud, and modernization.
07:44He was aware of DOJ's plans to reduce the workforce by thousands of people.
07:49He was also aware of sweeping personal data that DOJ agents were requesting and that those
07:56requests flew in the face of privacy law and agency safeguards to ensure Americans' most
08:04valuable personal information is protected.
08:08Social Security is effectively the Fort Knox of Americans' private information, banking
08:17information, medical records, home addresses, children's names, and more.
08:23It is still not completely clear what information DOJ has access to and what they are doing
08:29with it.
08:30So under this cloud of deception, as a ranking Democrat in the Finance Committee working
08:36very closely with my colleagues as a privacy expert, among other things, I'm of the view
08:42the Finance Committee must not proceed with the vote on this nominee.
08:48At a minimum, there ought to be a bipartisan investigation into the allegations.
08:54And if that confirms what the whistleblower has told my staff, as I believe it will, this
08:59nominee ought to withdraw.
09:01My Republican colleagues here have an opportunity to prove they simply won't tolerate being
09:09lied to at the Senate Finance Committee.
09:12The stakes are too high for seniors and Americans with disabilities who are terrified of losing
09:17their earned benefits and thank you.
09:20Who would you like to go next?
09:21Senator Cantwell.
09:22Senator Cantwell.
09:23Thank you, Senator Schumer, Leader Schumer.
09:25Thank you, Senator Wyden.
09:26I'm good to be here with my colleague, Senator Van Hollen.
09:31Social Security is a contract between citizens and their government so they can retire with
09:38dignity.
09:391.4 million people in the state of Washington want that right of what they sacrificed and
09:46paid in to have that retirement.
09:49But what have they gotten out of the Trump administration?
09:51The Trump administration has taken many steps to undermine Social Security.
09:57First, cutting the workforce.
10:00Then trying to cut offices.
10:02Then coming up with a suggestion that you should re-register to even qualify for Social
10:07Security.
10:08Is that any way to meet the contractual obligation our government has to help people have a minimal
10:15amount of dignity in retirement?
10:18But no.
10:19Instead, this administration is trying to claim fraud.
10:23We heard the President of the United States go on and on at the State of the Union about
10:27fraud.
10:28Well, Mr. President, it is your billionaire cabinet and DOJ leader that are defrauding
10:33the American public from their right to retirement with Social Security.
10:40One of my constituents had the unfortunate mishap of being claimed dead.
10:47Literally, they said he was dead and should not get a Social Security check.
10:52Not only did he have to go back down to the office in Seattle to try to reclaim his check
10:59and stand in line for hours and hours, he found out that they had clawed back his previous
11:03Social Security checks from January and December.
11:08So why does my constituent have to live through what is just a barrage of DOJ people trying
11:14to claim fraud when he can't even get his own retirement?
11:19Mr. Johnson said the Social Security Administration needs more resources, not less resources.
11:25If you have a contractual obligation to give them their check that they paid into, then
11:31give it to them in a timely basis.
11:34And Secretary Lutnick's ridiculous idea that somehow that a senior, I guess he is so out
11:41of touch with the American people that he doesn't understand that people are depending
11:46on that for a lifeline.
11:48And yet he thinks they can wait months and months to find out.
11:52And he's helping empower an organization that is clawing back the checks out of people's
11:58bank accounts when they desperately need it for food and medicine.
12:03I hope this administration will pay attention to these obligations and understand that they
12:10are advocating for undermining of Social Security, undermining people who deserve the benefits,
12:17and undermining our obligation to help people retire with dignity.
12:22Senator Van Hollen.
12:26Thank you to Senator Schumer and my colleagues.
12:29I'm proud to represent the 12,000 patriotic federal employees who work at the Social Security
12:38Administration in the state of Maryland, who every day faithfully deliver promised benefits
12:46to 73 million of their fellow Americans.
12:52And we need to get some facts straight.
12:55This is an organization that runs efficiently.
12:58As the former Social Security Commissioner O'Malley has reminded us, all state operates
13:05at an 11 percent overhead.
13:07Liberty Mutual operates at a 23 percent overhead.
13:13The Social Security Administration, it operates at a one-half percent overhead.
13:22Social Security Administration and those employees have never missed a payment.
13:29And they're also operating today at a 50-year low in terms of personnel.
13:36So this has nothing to do with government efficiency.
13:40This has everything to do with the most corrupt bargain in American history.
13:44Elon Musk spent $280 million to elect Donald Trump.
13:49And Donald Trump has installed Elon Musk in the cockpit of our government to rig the government
13:56for people like Elon Musk, people who are already rich and already powerful, and to
14:02do that at everybody else's expense.
14:07We're also seeing, as my colleague said, other billionaire members of the Cabinet saying
14:12things like, Americans wouldn't miss their Social Security payment unless they were fraudsters.
14:18Well say that to the 73 million Americans who do depend, so many of them, on that Social
14:26Security check.
14:28And Elon Musk, we have news for him.
14:32Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme.
14:34It's a promise.
14:35It's a promise the American people have made.
14:37And someone needs to remind the President of the United States about that.
14:40Because as Senator Schumer said, he came before a joint session of Congress and just lied
14:45and lied about it.
14:47So what are they up to?
14:49They are working to sabotage Social Security from the inside.
14:56They are trying to eat at its heart and its brain.
15:03First of all, they are seizing that personal data.
15:06Fortunately, we have a federal judge that's put a temporary freeze on it.
15:09But what are they doing at the Social Security Administration?
15:11Well first they shut down the phone lines.
15:15You know, I don't know what Elon Musk thinks.
15:17I know he's an AI whiz and a tech whiz.
15:20But there are a lot of Americans, millions of Americans, who depend on using the phone
15:27to connect with the Social Security Administration for questions.
15:31Well they say they don't have to use the phones.
15:33They can go to the regional offices now.
15:36Well they are closing the regional offices all over the country.
15:4047 slated for closure by my count.
15:44Okay, so now you go to the regional offices.
15:47Well who's going to be at the regional offices?
15:50Because they're talking about cutting 7,000 Social Security employees, 47% of the workforce.
15:56As I said, it's already at a 50-year low, the Social Security Administration workforce.
16:00So that's what they're doing.
16:02So why do you do this?
16:04You do it to undermine people's confidence and faith in Social Security so you can go
16:11right at taking down that very important promise.
16:16Because when they say Ponzi scheme, that's what they're trying to do when we know it's
16:21a promise.
16:23And we're here to blow the whistle on it and here to say that the nominee that they've
16:29put forward for the Social Security Administration is unfit to protect the promise of Social
16:34Security for the American people.
16:36And I thank my colleagues.
16:37I'll take questions on this subject.
16:38Yes.
16:39Yeah, Mr. Bisognano, you told Senator Whitehouse he wouldn't privatize Social Security.
16:40You told Senator Hassan he wouldn't throw people off the program or cut benefits.
16:41Is it of your opinion that he was lying to the committee yesterday with these statements?
16:54Now, what we said with respect to privatization is these policies that Senator Van Hollen
17:03just mentioned in terms of closing the offices and laying off personnel, in my view, are
17:09a prelude to privatization.
17:13Because when you adopt these policies, you're hollowing out the role for government.
17:21And then everybody says, oh, my goodness, we've got to help the seniors.
17:25And they say, well, we'll go get some private contractors.
17:29And then you're on your way.
17:32What the nominee yesterday lied about involves the whistleblower and now particularly the
17:40fact that The Washington Post has confirmed a number of the things that were said.
17:47This subject.
17:48The Republicans do away with the Department of Education or district courts, but it's
17:49on the subject.
17:50If they do away with these things in the next funding bill, would you feel the same way
17:51that a shutdown is worse than the alternative?
18:00Look, the bottom line is that they are doing such horrible things to the country that we're
18:05going to fight it in every way.
18:07Next.
18:08What conversations are you having with the SSA nominee?
18:15We had a hell of a conversation yesterday, I'll tell you that.
18:20He made a special point out of saying he had talked to nobody at the agency.
18:28And that just wasn't true.
18:31And I called him on it.
18:32And I asked him to respond to the allegations, and he bobbed and he weaved and he ducked.
18:38So you want to know what kind of conversation we have?
18:40Take a look at the record.
18:43Compare what he said to the whistleblower.
18:48Now with some confirmation from the Washington Post.
18:51And it was enough of a conversation that it reconfirmed for me that this was someone not
19:00fit to carry on Social Security.
19:03Now at a crucial time, we need somebody to come in there.
19:07For example, my last question to him was, you haven't offered us a single idea with
19:12respect to phone systems.
19:15My colleagues asked about AI.
19:16He thinks that AI is a silver bullet for seniors.
19:21And I said, excuse me, I was director of the Gray Panthers for about seven years.
19:27And I stay in touch with my friends, and there are not a lot of seniors clamoring for chatbots.
19:33They're just not.
19:34What they're clamoring for is to have somebody that they can talk to, they feel comfortable
19:38with.
19:39Didn't offer a single idea about it.
19:41Yesterday, he talked about AI.
19:43In my office, he talked about AI.
19:45It's clear he thinks that's a silver bullet, and it's consistent with what I think he's
19:49really up to, which is hollowing out government services and Social Security.
19:54Our last question is going to go to Eddie Markey.
19:56Eddie, what are your thoughts on Social Security?
19:59Edward J. Markey.
20:04For your great leadership on this issue.
20:06When Howard Lutnick says that if his 94-year-old mother-in-law did not receive her Social Security
20:15check, that she would just assume it was going to come next month.
20:19Well, 22 million Americans would go into poverty if they did not get their Social Security
20:28check.
20:2922 million Americans would be in poverty.
20:31They wouldn't have the money to pay for their food, for their rent.
20:3622 million people.
20:39Over the age of 85, two-thirds of those people are women who would not get a check that month
20:47and go into poverty.
20:50So one old guy, he said to me, you know, he said, people think because we're old, we're
20:59stupid.
21:00We're not stupid.
21:01And we know the GOP stands for get old people, and we know that's what they're trying to
21:05do to Social Security and to Medicaid and to Medicare.
21:09So that's where we are, and we're going to fight.
21:11We're going to fight to protect that hard-earned benefit for every one of the 72 million Americans
21:17that depend upon it every single month.
21:19So thank you, Chuck.
21:20Thanks, everybody.
21:21Mr. Leader, one more on your letter about Signal, about the Signal chat.
21:24Do you agree Leader Jeffries also sent a letter to the President yesterday calling for Pete
21:30Hexath to be fired immediately?
21:31Do you agree with the Leader?
21:32He should be fired.
21:33I agree he should be fired.
21:35Thank you, sir.