Protecting Social Security Data

Floor Speech

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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address ongoing concerns about Social Security, especially just in this past week since Mr. Musk has decided that he, in an unauthorized position not approved by the Senate and with no accountability, is after everybody's data and information at SSA.

Mr. Speaker, it might surprise some of the viewers in our audience to know why the wealthiest man in the world needs to know your Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid information. Privacy is something that Americans value. Data is something that billionaires can turn into money. Mr. Speaker, we need to know what role Elon Musk and DOGE--or I call it dodge because they dodge accountability--will have with the agency and everyone's hard-earned benefits, as if an unconfirmed, unelected billionaire should have access to yours or anyone's sensitive information.

If the cuts that they are promising and what he is looking for come through, then that means people's personal Social Security will be reduced by 36 percent. It hasn't been enhanced since Richard Nixon was President of the United States. Now, Mr. Musk is out because he has been charged to cut the budget by $2 trillion. As everyone knows, 70 percent of the Federal budget comes from Social Security, Medicare, and defense.

They are coming after you. Specifically, they need that data also so he and his minions of unauthorized, unaccountable people can go forward.

We have written to Acting Commissioner King. Attorneys general across the country, including my own from the State of Connecticut, Attorney General Tong, are putting forward attempts. Then, we learned today or this morning that President Trump says that he is just going to ignore the courts because he believes that he is above the law, Mr. Speaker, that he is not accountable to anyone. Now, he is saying that he is not even accountable to the courts because he and the billionaire class have gotten together and said: Don't worry. No one on the Republican side of the House and Senate who controls both the House and Senate is going to speak up and challenge us.

We need to protect Americans' privacy and their Social Security. For 40 percent of all Americans, Social Security is the basis for their retirement and their retirement savings. For 28 million Americans, Social Security is the only thing that they have, and that is why we have to make sure that we are protecting it, as well.

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