John,

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly claimed he wouldn’t touch Social Security. But the two men he’s put in charge of cutting approximately one-third of the government’s budget -- $2 trillion -- have repeatedly indicated they have no such compunctions. And there’s just no way to cut that much money without going after the most popular social programs in the country.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, billionaires with no reason to think they would ever need to rely on Social Security or Medicare themselves, wasted no time letting Americans know that no federal program would be safe from cuts, “and that includes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.”

In truth, Republicans in Congress have wanted to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block for decades, but they’ve lacked the cover of a charismatic slash-and-burn President or his uber-rich “first buddy” henchmen to take the heat for them. Now they’re looking for Democrats to join their Slash and Burn commission to seek further cover.

Republicans are also chiming in, targeting Social Security with reckless messages they would never have dared to make in a less extreme era. Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, for instance, told NBC, “Perhaps mandatory programs are areas that they're looking to make cuts in, like Social Security, for example.”

Incoming Vice President JD Vance also revealed Social Security is in Musk’s sights, saying the upcoming cuts are “going to look much different in, say, the Department of Defense versus Social Security.”

Utah Senator Mike Lee’s comment calling Social Security a “nightmare” was especially concerning, given that Musk himself reposted it: “America’s century-long era of progressive government must be brought to a close.”

Send a clear message to your Senators and Representatives: Oppose, and do not join, Musk & Ramaswamy’s Slash & Burn commission!

Ramaswamy himself told CNBC they could find massive savings in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and that they could cut these programs even without Congress’ approval:

“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.”

Now that Republicans in Congress are forming a bicameral caucus to back Musk and Ramaswamy’s Slash & Burn Commission, their goal is to create bipartisan support for benefit cuts. It seems that, without hearing enough objection from their constituents, some Democrats seem to be considering adding legitimacy to such a commission by joining it.

In fact, to protect Medicare and Social Security, the best action Democrats can take is to reject plans for a bipartisan slash-and-burn and let Republicans take on the full responsibility for their irresponsible ideas. We are calling on every Democrat in Congress to firmly oppose any cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

Add your name to call on Democrats in Congress to stand strong and boycott Elon Musk’s Slash & Burn commission now.

Thank you for taking on the billionaires’ efforts to rob essential earned benefits from ordinary Americans, just to finance tax cuts for themselves.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action