Elon Musk Calls Social Security ‘The Big One To Eliminate’

by Angie SchlagerMarch 13, 2025, 7:16 pmHome Featured, News >

On Monday, Elon Musk called federal spending on major entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid areas that need to be “eliminated.” The tech billionaire is on a mission to reduce government spending by $1 trillion by September 2025.

“The waste and fraud in entitlement spending, which is most of the federal spending, is entitlements,” he claimed during an interview with Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow. “So that’s the big one to eliminate.”

Musk mentioned that his team focused on reducing government costs and would look closely at Social Security and other entitlement programs, calling these areas full of fraud. He also repeated a claim that Democrats were using these programs as a “gigantic magnet to attract illegal immigrants and have them stay in the country.”

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!

A week of political news in your in-box.
We find the news you need to know, so you don't have to.

He claimed there is “a half trillion, maybe 600 or 700 billion a year” in wasteful and fraudulent spending. There is no evidence to support this claim, as that would represent nearly a third of the $1.5 trillion Social Security paid out last year and approximately 20% of the amount spent on Social Security and Medicare combined.

>READ: TRUMP DELIVERS RED MEAT TO MAGA SUPPORTERS BUT FACT CHECKER CRY FOUL

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is urging the Social Security agency to tackle suspected fraud. The SSA is considering discontinuing its phone service, which handles around 40% of claims and bank transactions via direct deposit. In place of this, the agency plans to direct seniors and disabled individuals to use online services or visit in-person field offices.

Leland Dudek, the acting head of Social Security and a Trump appointee, raised concerns about DOGE’s actions in remarks to senior staff.

During his speech to Congress last week, President Donald Trump asserted that the Social Security system is plagued by “shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud”—a claim that lacks substantial evidence—adding that his administration was “searching right now” for instances where the government allegedly made Social Security payments to deceased Americans, some supposedly listed as being up to 160 years old.

Social Security staff explained to DOGE officials that any records of deceased individuals are simply the result of the agency’s outdated database system and that no payments are being made to deceased people.

In light of Musk’s remarks, the White House asserted that Trump would not cut Social Security or Medicare, arguing that Musk was talking only about cutting fraud.

“The Trump Administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits,” the White House said in a press release. “President Trump himself has said it (over and over and over again).”