Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, a mild-mannered moderate, issued a fiery statement slamming Elon Musk and the Trump administration for recent actions curtailing the Social Security Administration, which include the removal of workers and office closures.
“The Trump Administration’s callous indifference to the millions of Americans who rely on the monthly Social Security checks they have earned — and the millions more Americans who are relying on social security for their planned retirements — is the most direct assault on this vital program in its almost 100 year history. It is disrespectful, destructive, and dangerous,” King said.
“Social Security is not social media; this ‘move fast and break things’ approach they seem to be following is a betrayal of the public trust,” King said in a statement. “The President has said repeatedly, during the campaign and since, that he would protect social security — but what’s happening now in his name is anything but protection, and he should put a stop to it.”
Musk’s actions on Social Security have sparked an elevated level of concern among Republicans, who have looked the other way on various other “DOGE” activities. It’s particularly salient in King’s home state of Maine, where the agency initially issued — then rescinded — an order that would make it harder for parents to register newborns for Social Security numbers at hospitals.
King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, added: “When the Trump White House and its corporate-suite cabinet sends reckless DOGE computer engineers into the Social Security networks, threaten cuts to the committed workforce who carefully manage this system, make it harder for citizens to interact with that workforce, or scoff at older Americans justifiably worried about late payments — as one of his billionaire cabinet members did just this week — this dismissive public stance frightens the very people who literally built this country, and who deserve a hell of a lot better.’
