The White House said that Elon Musk was speaking about cutting waste and fraud.
The White House released a
statement Tuesday saying the Trump administration will not cut Social Security or Medicare after presidential adviser Elon Musk commented on cuts to entitlement programs.
On Monday, Musk spoke with Fox News about the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and said that most government spending is on entitlements, prompting media outlets to speculate that he plans to cut Social Security and Medicare.
“So, the waste and fraud in entitlement spending, which is most of the federal spending, is entitlements. So, that’s, like, the big one to eliminate,” Musk
told Larry Kudlow in the Fox interview, adding that such cuts could create over $600 billion in annual savings.
The White House said in a
statement titled “FACT CHECK: President Trump Will Always Protect Social Security, Medicare” that instead of pushing for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, Musk was talking about removing fraud and waste in entitlement spending.
“President Trump himself has
said it (
over and
over and
over again). Elon Musk didn’t say that, either. The press is lying again,” the statement read, with hyperlinks to Trump’s past statements on the issue.
The White House then asked: “What kind of a person doesn’t support eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending that ultimately costs taxpayers more?”
In the statement, the White House linked to government findings about fraud and waste such as a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
report estimating that the United States stands to lose $521 billion annually to fraud,
namely within the Medicaid and Medicare programs.
It also pointed to an August 2024
report from the Social Security Administration inspector general that discovered $72 billion in improper payments, a
report that said the government has made $2.7 trillion in “improper payments” such as “payments to deceased individuals or those who no longer [are] eligible for government programs” over two decades, and a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
statement that it made $140 billion in “improper payments” last year.
During interviews with media outlets, Trump has often said he does not want to touch Medicare or Social Security, saying he instead wants to go after fraud within the two programs.
“Look, 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,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity in February.
“Medicare, Medicaid, none of that stuff is going to be touched,” he
said in the interview, adding he will move to remove any illegal immigrants receiving such payments.
In his 2024 campaign, Trump indicated on several occasions that he would not touch Medicare or Social Security, and at one point, proposed ending income taxes on Social Security checks. A projection from the Congressional Budget Office has shown the Social Security program will become insolvent by the 2030s.
Musk also spoke with Hannity in the February interview and said that federal spending has to be slashed or Social Security and Medicare will be impacted in the future.
“We either solve the deficit, or all we’ll be doing is paying debt,” Musk said. “It’s got to be solved, or there’s no medical care, there’s no Social Security, there’s no nothing. It’s got to be solved.
