At a Senate Democratic press briefing on Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about potential cuts to Social Security.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Okay. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm proud to be joined by Senators Wyden and Reid. Today
00:08we're here to talk about two things with massive importance to all Americans. Social security
00:16and national security. First, yesterday, Senate Democrats, alongside all other Americans,
00:25found that the Defense Secretary shared classified war plans in a group chat with the CIA Director,
00:34National Security Advisor, and Vice President of the United States. For the Defense Secretary
00:40to coordinate war plans in such a haphazard and dangerous way puts our national security,
00:48our troops, and every single American at risk. Even after the administration confirmed the
00:55authenticity of the texts, Secretary Hexeth continued to deflect and blame the reporter.
01:04He does something really damaging to national security, and he blames the reporter who his
01:10people sent the information to. What gall. This is the Secretary of Defense. This is the man
01:20leading our troops into battle and is meant to protect Americans and our national security
01:26at all costs. The Senate, as well as all relevant authorities within the executive branch, must
01:32investigate this incident fully. Fully. We need the Senate to do it. I hope Senator Thune
01:41will join me in that. We also need the IG of the DOD to do it as well. As Senate Republicans
01:49scramble to defend Hexeth from endangering our national security, the administration
01:56continues to gut social security right in front of our very eyes. Social security was already at its
02:04lowest staff level in decades, but instead of working to make sure seniors get their
02:09hard-earned benefits, Trump, Musk, and Doge are laying off more than 7,000 social security
02:15workers. These are the people who answer the questions for seniors, make sure they're getting
02:20the proper benefits as quickly as possible. Some offices have reported waits, most offices
02:27of many hours. Some, I heard one instance, five-hour wait. Someone waited on the phone.
02:35On top of gutting the workforce, Trump, Musk, Doge are trying to close the regional field
02:42offices. Up to 60% of regional offices are being shut down. Social security serves 73
02:49million Americans. Over 30 million of those go into their local offices each year, more
02:55than close to half. How does closing offices and firing thousands of workers help seniors
03:02and the disabled get benefits? What they're trying to do, what they're trying to do is
03:09erode away at the American dream, rigging the system for billionaires while stealing
03:15from American families and elderly in order to make tax cuts for the rich. Let's be very
03:21clear. What's happening right now in social security is a benefit cut. A benefit cut.
03:30Fewer people will get benefits because of what they've done. This is another way of
03:36killing social security, plain and simple. They're shutting off phone lines, closing
03:43down field offices, firing people. It's clear what they're doing. They can't outwardly cut
03:50benefits because it would be so unpopular. They're just making it harder for you to get
03:55benefits. Same thing, different route, same nasty result. Americans aren't falling for
04:06it. Today, the Washington Post showed that while Elon Musk is claiming massive waste
04:11at the agency, he has no evidence, no evidence to back that up. He just wants to kill the
04:18program one way or another. Why are they doing this? Why would they do this? This is so politically
04:25unpopular because a clique of billionaires just control what the government is doing.
04:32They don't care about people. You heard what Lutnick said the other day. If you miss your
04:37check, it doesn't matter. Well, that's true if you have a billionaire son-in-law, but
04:44it's not true for people who depend on the check each month, each week, each day for
04:50their food, for their medicine. So today was SAA nominee Frank Bisignano's hearing. Ron
04:59will talk about it. But given his history, he used to be sent into companies to slash
05:05personnel. And the administration's slash and burn policy, it should be an easy vote.
05:12Any Republican who votes yes on Bisignano is voting to cut Social Security for our seniors.
05:20Any Republican who votes yes on Bisignano is voting to cut Social Security for our seniors.
05:28Time is short to stop permanent damage to Social Security administration. If Republicans
05:33continue to do nothing, the political backlash will be unprecedented.