Democrat Erupts at Elon Musk During DOGE Hearing

Rep. Larson speaks in the Ways and Means Committee

March 13, 2025

Newsweek: Democrat Erupts at Elon Musk During DOGE Hearing

Democratic U.S. Representative John Larson slammed Elon Musk on Wednesday for skipping a House Ways and Means Committee hearing about DOGE, accusing him of attempting to privatize Social Security.

Why It Matters

Trump charged Musk with rooting out federal government waste and corruption as head of the advisory Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE) when he returned to office in January.

But since then, Musk's department has come under intense scrutiny from lawmakers concerned about its influence on the Trump administration. Musk's recent comments about Social Security have also alarmed members of Congress.

What To Know

Elon Musk was notably absent from a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Wednesday, where Democrats sought answers about Musk and DOGE's access to Americans' Social Security information and Treasury Department data during the group's cost-cutting reviews.

His absence sparked a fiery response from Democratic Representative John Larson, who angrily demanded, "Where is Elon Musk?" while gesturing toward the empty chairs.

Larson also argued that Musk's financial success does not exempt him from accountability before Congress, stating, "No one is above the law."

Larson went on to accuse Musk of trying to privatize Social Security and criticized his Republican colleagues for being subservient to both Musk and Donald Trump.

"He's been on television the last couple of days talking exactly about Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and what he intends to do privatizing," he said.

"If he [Musk] sees all these supposed abuses—why isn't he here to explain them? Shame on you! Shame on you!"

It comes after Musk suggested during a recent Fox News interview that his government cost-cutting team would examine Social Security and other entitlement programs, claiming they were plagued by fraudulent transactions.

"The waste and fraud in entitlement spending, which is most of the federal spending, is entitlements," he claimed, "so that's the big one to eliminate." He also repeated a conspiracy theory, alleging that Democrats were using these programs as a "gigantic magnet to attract illegal immigrants and have them stay in the country."

Earlier this month, Mr. Musk referred to Social Security as "the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time."

Also this month, Trump delivered a joint address to Congress where he claimed his administration is investigating widespread fraud in the Social Security program, stating that government databases list millions of beneficiaries at improbable ages, including individuals over 160 years old.

Trump went on to claim the database shows one person on the rolls aged 360 years — not long after the Mayflower arrived in what's now the United States.

There is no evidence of hundreds of thousands of people over 100 years old collecting benefits illegally. There is no one living in the U.S. older than 116.

In a statement on February 19, Lee Dudek, the new acting Social Security Administration (SSA) commissioner, clarified that individuals listed as over 100 years old in the Social Security system are "not necessarily receiving benefits," but are instead individuals without a recorded date of death.

Meanwhile, a 2023 report from the inspector general revealed that 18.9 million people born in 1920 or earlier had no death information in SSA records, and 44,000 of them were still receiving payments.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 80,139 people aged 100 or older in the United States in 2020. Since 2015, the SSA has used an automated process to stop benefits for individuals aged 115 or older.

A 2024 audit from the Office of the Inspector General found that the agency had made $72 billion in improper payments between 2015 and 2022, accounting for just under 1% of the $8.6 trillion in total payments during that period.

Nonetheless, Trump vowed to crack down on what he said was "hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud."

During his campaign, Trump promised not to cut Social Security.

What People Are Saying

Representative John Larson said of Musk: "I'm sure he's a genius. And that he's a very credible person—if only because of the money he's amassed. But wealth does not exempt anyone from accountability before Congress. No one is above the law.

"If he's so great, if these plans and all the fraud and abuse that he found are so imminent, why isn't he here explaining it?"

In February 18 interview on Fox News, Trump said: "Social Security won't be touched, other than if there's fraud or something. It's going to be strengthened. But it won't be touched."

What Happens Next

Right now, there are no plans to privatize Social Security. But the SSA announced plans to reduce its workforce by 7,000 employees this month under Trump's plan to reduce the size of the federal government.

Issues:Congressman Larson's CommitteesSocial Security 2100 Act