Since U.S. President Donald Trump announced tech billionaire Elon Musk would help lead a new Department of Government Efficiency in November 2024, various rumors have spread about Musk and the Social Security program, which provides income for American retirees and other eligible participants.
For instance, many social media posts — including one in Snopes' Facebook tip group — have attributed this quote to Musk: "It will be my objective to phase out Social Security, to pull it out by the roots!"
In March 2025, news outlets — including The Associated Press, Time magazine and Rolling Stone — began reporting that Musk was considering or "teasing" cuts to Social Security and other benefit programs. Social media users on X — including Democratic lawmakers like Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan — shared a clip of Musk on Fox Business, claiming he said on the news program that he wants to cut Social Security.
Musk said the quiet part out loud: he's going after your Social Security and Medicare. Period.
Mark my words. They will make you pay in every part of your life. pic.twitter.com/Hjv31xn58B— Sen. Elissa Slotkin (@SenatorSlotkin) March 11, 2025
As of this writing, however, Musk has not explicitly promised to cut Social Security benefits — although he has stated that he wants to cut "waste and fraud" from federal entitlement spending. Entitlement spending includes benefit programs like Social Security. He also hasn't said he wants to "phase out" Social Security or "pull it out by the roots." In reality, Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, apparently made that statement in 2010, according to a widely circulated video of the senator. (Elaborating on his position in 2023, Lee released a statement in which he referenced his 2010 remarks and blamed Democrats for miscontextualizing them.)
While Musk has publicly advocated for reductions to federal spending in the trillions of dollars, there was no explicit evidence of him saying he wants to cut Social Security benefits, specifically, as of this writing. However, efforts by DOGE to cut the federal workforce reportedly may affect Social Security benefits, and The Washington Post reported that DOGE considered ending the Social Security Administration's phone services as part of its attempts to root out alleged fraud before backing down.
We reached out to Musk's team to learn more about his position on federal spending on Social Security benefits, and we'll update this report if we receive a response. Snopes previously confirmed a claim that Musk called Social Security
Musk's public comments and actions on Social Security
On March 10, 2025, Musk spoke of entitlement waste as the "big one to eliminate," sparking headlines from news outlets that said Musk was "eyeing" Social Security cuts. (So-called entitlement spending is mandatory spending required by U.S. law; Social Security is a form of entitlement spending and the federal government's single largest program.) Here are his full comments, available in this clip with conservative broadcaster Larry Kudlow from Fox Business (emphasis ours):
MUSK: The goal here is let's not have America go bankrupt with waste and fraud. So that's what I'm here for, and we're making good progress.
KUDLOW: Yes you are. You going to go another year?
MUSK: I think so, yes.
KUDLOW: Final report, middle of next year?
MUSK: Well, we're just getting things done as opposed to writing a report. Reports don't mean anything, you gotta actually take actions. I mean, the waste and fraud in entitlement spending — which is most of the federal spending, is entitlements. So that's — that's like the big one to eliminate. That's the sort of half a trillion, maybe six, seven hundred billion a year.
Musk has previously claimed that Social Security is rife with fraud, although his evidence lacks credibility. Thus, his comments on Fox Business suggest he wants to cut this supposed fraud from Social Security; this is also in line with previous comments he's made about "eliminating waste and fraud" from Social Security and other benefit programs. However, he did not outright say he wants to cut benefits, and a White House news release in response to news reports about Musk's comments said that neither the Trump administration nor Musk have said they want to cut Social Security benefits.
The release pointed to Government Accountability Office estimates that taxpayers lose between $200 billion to $500 billion annually to fraud, with much of that connected to entitlement programs like Medicaid and Medicare.
Musk has also hinted that he's open to overhauling the entire system. On Dec. 2, 2024, he quoted a thread by Lee that called Social Security an "outdated, mismanaged system."
Interesting thread https://t.co/G50cntLkVG
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 3, 2024.
It was that repost of Lee's thread that sparked the claims about Musk supposedly "declaring war" on Social Security.
Social Security Works, a group that says it's "fighting to protect and expand Social Security," responded to Musk's repost of Lee's thread with a news release titled, "Republican Elon Musk Just Declared War on Social Security." The news release described Lee's thread as a "blueprint for destroying Social Security" and Musk's amplification of it as a "declaration of war against seniors, people with disabilities, and the American public."
Opinion writers, including Montini and Ryan Teague Beckwith at MSNBC, also speculated that Musk may be interested in cutting Social Security benefits after Musk said at an Oct. 27 Trump rally that he thinks it's possible to cut $2 trillion from the federal government's budget.
What people around Musk have said
After the closed-door meeting on DOGE priorities, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican from South Carolina who attended, told Fox Business that "nothing is sacrosanct" in terms of the group's targets for potential cuts. "They're going to put everything on the table," Norman said.
The Fox host noted that targets for potential cuts could include Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
In a CNBC interview on Dec. 6, the day after the meeting, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who also attended, said such meetings were "brainstorming" sessions and that no ideas were set in stone. Also, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told CNBC that he was open to requiring stricter verification for Social Security benefits, a change that could reduce the number of people who can access them.
Meanwhile, a day before the meeting, on Dec. 4, Ramaswamy told Axios that while DOGE would look for wasteful spending and fraud in programs like Social Security, any decision about large cuts to benefits "belongs to the voters." He also echoed Scalise's views on tightening restrictions on who can apply for benefits. "Right now, there are hundreds of billions of dollars flowing out the door of all of those programs, ending up in the hands of people who, even under the statute, should not be receiving those payments," Ramaswamy told Axios.
In summary, while Musk has been in conversations with lawmakers about reforming federal spending, has indicated interest in overhauling the Social Security program and has championed efforts to cut the Social Security Administration's workforce, he has not, as of this writing, outright said he would cut, phase out or abolish such benefits.