Washington, DC – On the 90th anniversary of the signing of the Social Security Act, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today highlighted the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans’ hostility toward Social Security.
“For 90 years, hardworking Rhode Islanders have leaned on their Social Security benefits to enjoy the dignified retirement they have earned,” said Whitehouse, a founding member of the Expand Social Security Caucus. “Right now, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are quietly creating problems for Social Security so they can later hand it off to their private equity buddies. Trump’s Treasury Secretary even admitted that their Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaires Bill opened a ‘backdoor for privatizing Social Security.’ I’m committed to doing everything in my power to protect and strengthen this bedrock American program from wasteful and destructive Republican policies.”
For 90 years, Social Security has been the bedrock of Americans’ financial security, ensuring tens of millions of seniors, people with disabilities, widows and widowers are kept out of poverty. Over 230,000 Rhode Islanders receive Social Security benefits. On average, 120,000 Americans visit and 233,000 call the agency’s field offices every day.
Over the last six months, the Trump administration has offered buyouts and early retirement to the entire staff of 57,000 of the Social Security Administration, eliminated thousands of workers at the agency, closed regional offices, made the agency’s website less reliable, and implemented burdensome new requirements to access services. Oneinvestigation found that SSA wait times averaged nearly an hour and 45 minutes, with maximum wait times exceeding three hours.
The Trump administration’s attacks on Social Security appear to be an effort to provoke an interruption of benefits and hand off seniors’ money and data to allies in private equity and Big Tech. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent admitted in an interview in July that the tax-deferred investment accounts created in the Big, Beautiful-for-Billionaire’s Bill were a “backdoor for privatizing Social Security.” Trump ally Elon Musk has falsely called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time” and said that alleged fraud in entitlement programs is “the big one to eliminate,” despite the fact that fraud is exceedingly rare.
Senator Whitehouse is committed to safeguarding and defending Social Security for Rhode Island seniors. Whitehouse’s Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act would protect the solvency of Social Security and Medicare for at least 75 years by requiring the nation’s highest earners to contribute a fairer share of their income into the system. Whitehouse also cosponsored the Social Security Fairness Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in January. The legislation eliminated two policies that reduced Social Security benefits for public service employees.
In June, Whitehouse took to the Senate floor to request unanimous passage of the Protecting Seniors’ Data Act, a bill to require performance and security audits of the computer systems of the Social Security Administration to ensure DOGE has not damaged or abused access to private Social Security data. Senate Republicans blocked the passage of that measure.
