'Check back on this!' Musk vows 'more money — not less' for Social Security recipients
Tech billionaire Elon Musk made a head-turning promise to Fox News' Bret Baier in a Thursday night interview, surrounded by some of his top software engineers helping him take over and dismantle federal agencies through his Department of Government Efficiency task force: his reforms will actually lead to Social Security recipients getting more money.
"I want to emphasize that as a result of the work of DOGE, legitimate recipients of Social Security will receive more money, not less money," said Musk of his work at the critical agency responsible for public retirement and disability benefits.
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"And let the record show that I said this, and it can be proven out to be true. Let's check back on this in the future," he added.
Musk and his associates told Baier they found extensive evidence of fraud at the Social Security Administration but did not back up their claims. While Social Security fraud happens, just 0.3 percent of Social Security payments are improper, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities — nowhere near enough to save the government a meaningful amount of money or increase benefits without increasing taxes.
DOGE's activities at Social Security and his attempts to fire vast amounts of staff at the agency have triggered alarm bells, with Democratic lawmakers broadly accusing him of attempting to dismantle the program.
In particular, the task force's zeal in trying to root out fraud has threatened a breakdown of service, with one expert warning it could lead to delays and improper denials of benefits, and some others warning Musk's staff has no understanding of the system's common business-oriented language, or COBOL, database. One economist who previously worked at SSA likened Musk to a "drunk operating a wrecking ball."