Business & Economy
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Business & Economy
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Senate GOP wants Musk to keep quiet on Social Security
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Elon Musk’s labeling of Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme” and plans to cut the Social Security Administration’s workforce are giving GOP lawmakers heartburn.
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Several Republican senators said Musk should stop talking about Social Security and steer his budget-cutting team atthe Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a different direction.
“He should zip it on that. It’s not helpful. It plays right into Democrats’ hands; they want to talk about Social Security cuts, Medicare cuts, Medicaid cuts. We don’t. The president does not want to talk about that. He’s against all those things,” said a Republican senator who requested anonymity to voice frustration about Musk’s rhetoric on Social Security.
The senator said it would be OK to talk about cracking down on fraud in the system but warned “when you start making it sound like you’re questioning the foundation of the Social Security system, that’s not helpful.”
A second Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment on Musk’s focus on Social Security said DOGE should stay away from the programs, warning that cutting staff and field offices will likely impact beneficiaries, including thousands of seniors, across the country.
“This Congress — Republicans and Democrats — is not going to modify Social Security, it’s not going away. I guess Elon Musk is talking for Elon Musk, because he’s not talking for people in the Congress who have something to do with the future of Social Security,” the lawmaker said. “It’s part of our country and society, here to stay.”
The Hill's Alexander Bolton has more here.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Business & Economy newsletter, I'm Aris Folley — covering the intersection of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
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Key business and economic news with implications this week and beyond:
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Investor Kevin O’Leary slammed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) over his joke about Elon Musk and Tesla stock, calling it “beyond stupid.”
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Tesla has recalled nearly all Cybertrucks after identifying a defect that can cause a panel of the pickup truck to fly off.
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DoorDash and Klarna, a company that offers “buy now, pay later” programs, have come together on a deal for deferred and installment food delivery payments.
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President Trump offered praise for the crypto world Thursday, suggesting the industry will “unleash an explosion of economic growth.”
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All eyes on the parliamentarian
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Welcome to Tax Watch, a new feature focused on the fight over tax reform and the push to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts this year.
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Republicans are riding high after passing their continuing resolution to fund the government and their budgetary roadmap for reconciliation despite their tiny majority in the House.
But next steps on their “big, beautiful bill” will depend crucially on what the Senate Parliamentarian will allow in terms of deficit accounting.
In the face of opposition from some lawmakers in the House, Republicans in the Senate are sold on the idea of using the “policy baseline” to score their reconciliation package. The accounting method could allow as much as $5 trillion to be written out of the deficit effects of the tax cut and spending bill.
They’re also keen to use “dynamic scoring” in their projections, which forecasts economic growth resulting from the bill that would further offset deficit expansions on paper, though many in the tax world do not think these effects are significant.
The result could be a budgetary “Frankenstein creation,” said Brendan Duke, director of fiscal policy at the left-leaning nonprofit Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in a Wednesday interview.
Taking liberties with Section 312 of the Congressional Budget Act “could allow the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee to simply assert that the official score is quite literally whatever he says it is, allowing him to fabricate a score from thin air,” Duke wrote in a paper last year.
“Critically, the Senate parliamentarian has advised in the past that the budget chair does not have that authority,” he wrote.
— Tobias Burns
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Upcoming news themes and events we're watching:
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The Conference Board releases the Consumer Confidence Index for March next Tuesday at 10 a.m. E.T.
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Branch out with more stories from the day:
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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes edged lower Thursday following another reminder that big, unsettling …
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Business and economic news we've flagged from other outlets:
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S&P 500 closes lower Thursday as Wall Street’s comeback attempt falters (CNBC)
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Judge blocks DOGE from accessing Social Security sensitive data, raising concerns of a ‘fishing expedition’ (CNN)
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LA Faces $1 Billion Budget Hole, Warns of Thousands of Layoffs (Bloomberg)
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Top stories on The Hill right now:
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Senate Republicans want Elon Musk to stop talking about Social Security, and the Department of Government Efficiency to leave it alone. Read more
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The United Kingdom updated its advice for travel to the United States on Thursday, warning of harsh consequences for British passport holders who violate U.S. immigration laws. Read more
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Opinions related to business and economic issues submitted to The Hill:
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