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from Democracy for America Advocacy Fund
Shortly after the election, Donald Trump tasked Elon Musk, the richest man in the world whose companies reap billions in government contracts, and pharma billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy with creating a “Department of Government Efficiency” tasked with slashing the federal budget by a third. Musk and Ramaswamy told Republicans on Capitol Hill that no federal program is safe from cuts,[1] "and that includes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid." Since then, Musk, Ramaswamy, and Republicans in the House of Representatives have repeated their intention to use the committee to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid―despite Trump’s repeated insistence during the campaign that he would protect our Social Security system. Vice President-elect JD Vance confirmed that Elon is looking at Social Security:[2] And the thing that’s complicated about this, man, is it’s going to look much different in, say, the Department of Defense versus Social Security. Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune told NBC News:[3] Perhaps mandatory programs are areas that they're looking to make cuts in, like Social Security, for example. Ramaswamy told CNBC that they were looking for hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and that they believe Trump can cut them without Congressional approval:[4] You look at the way in which that money is being spent through Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security... There are hundreds of billions of dollars of savings to extract just from basic program integrity measures. The executive branch has no obligation to send out a payment if it is wasteful or if it is known to be fraudulent or has a reason to believe that there is error associated with that payment. And Musk himself boosted a thread from Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, calling Social Security a “nightmare” and saying that “America’s century-long era of progressive government must be brought to a close.”[5] Republicans in Congress are creating a bicameral caucus to aid Musk and Ramaswamy’s Slash & Burn Commission -- and there’s nothing Republicans want more than bipartisan cover for benefit cuts. And a few Democrats appear to be willing to give it to them. The best way for Democrats to protect our Social Security system is by boycotting this caucus and denying Republicans bipartisan cover for their plot to slash our earned benefits. Add your name to call on Democrats in Congress to stand strong and boycott Elon Musk’s Slash & Burn commission now. [1] Fox Business, December 5 [2] The New Republic: J.D. Vance Reveals How Trump Will Use Musk to Target Social Security [3] NBC News, Dec 5 [4] CNBC Transcript: Exclusive: DOGE Co-Lead, Author, and Former U.S. Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Speaks with CNBC’s Eamon Javers and Morgan Brennan Live from the CNBC CFO Council Summit in Washington, DC Today [5] Elon Musk on Twitter
Richard Stallman
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