GOP congressman wants to cut Social Security to please Elon Musk

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk

GOP Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri proposed on Monday that programs like Social Security and Medicare be cut to appease the incoming Trump administration’s bogus Department of Government Efficiency—aka billionaire Elon Musk’s vanity project.

DOGE (yes, it’s named like the meme and the cryptocurrency) is being led by Musk and fellow billionaire tech bro Vivek Ramaswamy and aims to cut $2 trillion in government spending.

In an appearance on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria,” Alford argued that the key social safety net programs need to go on the chopping block in order to meet this goal.

“We’ve got to right the ship and it’s going to mean cuts. It’s going to mean cuts to the 24% of the discretionary spending that we have, and it’s also going to mean looking long term at the front end of some programs like Social Security and Medicare,” Alford said.

Because “people are living longer, they’re retiring later,” Alford suggested that “on the front end we can move that retirement age back a little bit.”

The House Republican’s ideas echoed sentiments expressed by Musk (who is worth over $353 billion) during the presidential campaign. Musk said in October while campaigning for Donald Trump that middle-class Americans would have to experience “hardship” as cuts are made to the government.

At the same time, Trump has proposed more tax cuts that would benefit extremely wealthy Americans like Musk and Ramaswamy.

Musk reportedly spent over $250 million during the 2024 campaign cycle on multiple efforts, meant to elect Trump, including a shady political action committee.

While Trump has said that he will not cut Social Security, he submitted federal budgets during his first term in office that proposed cuts to safety net programs, particularly those that poor communities rely on.

Economic experts have long said that Social Security can be protected for future generations by raising the current caps on contributions. That would require the extremely wealthy—like Musk—to pay more, but it would help millions of Americans avoid poverty in their golden years.