All posts tagged "Social Security"

MAGA loyalists were melting down Thursday after President Donald Trump's Social Security Administration announced a new design for babies born this year.

The limited edition "Freedom 250" logo-themed cards will be issued for babies born between now and the end of the year, The Washington Post reported.

"Freedom 250 is the public-private initiative the Trump administration launched last year to organize events — often aligned with the administration — for the nation’s semiquincentennial. It is different from America250, a nonprofit established by Congress in 2016 to organize such celebrations," according to The Post....

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added a new wrinkle to the debate over what to do about the future of Social Security, since experts have warned the social safety net will be depleted by 2033.

At a forum hosted by Breitbart News on Wednesday, Bessent claimed that the tax-deferred children's investment accounts, called Trump Accounts in the Big Beautiful Bill, “is a back door for privatizing Social Security."

The plan's architect, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), claimed that giving $1,000 seed money from the Treasury to “every child born in America" will "help them begin the journey of savings and benefit from the wonders of compound interest."...

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) came down hard on his party for meddling with Medicaid and possibly requiring co-pays for Medicaid recipients seeking medical care.

"It's reverse class warfare, is what it is," Hawley told CNN's Manu Raju Wednesday. "It's taxing the poor to give to the rich, and I'm totally opposed to that."

Hawley took issue with changes to Medicaid — long considered an untouchable entitlement that Hawley called his "line in the sand" — in the draft House version of President Trump's "big, beautiful" spending bill. ...

Billionaire Mark Cuban offered up his unsolicited advice to the Trump administration on how to reform Medicaid without making any cuts to the entitlement.

Congress has been trying to figure out how to give President Donald Trump his "big, beautiful" spending bill without making cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. Trump himself has said the entitlements would not be touched.

However, DOGE's Elon Musk indicated in a March Fox News interview that entitlements would be on the table, saying, "The waste and fraud in entitlement spending — which is most of the federal spending is entitlements — so, that’s, like, the big one to eliminate. That’s the, sort of half-trillion, maybe $6-700 billion a year." ...

The head of the Social Security Administration claims former President Joe Biden's "woke" policies are to blame for long wait times for those seeking help with their benefits, according to MSNBC.

"When asked by USA Today to respond to a report about long wait times and other delays for benefits, a spokesperson for acting Social Security Commissioner Lee Dudek blamed Biden, citing the agency’s prior work-from-home policy and 'advancing radical DEI and gender ideology over improving service for all Americans,'" the article said.

Editor Ryan Teague Beckwith wrote that blaming diversity, equity, and inclusion programs has become a way of life for the Trump administration....

Social media lit up Friday after President Donald Trump's commerce secretary Howard Lutnick made what some saw as insensitive comments about the hot-button topic of Social Security.

Everyone from average Americans to members of Congress have expressed fears that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is focusing in on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as it continues to slash "waste, fraud, and abuse," from the federal government. Trump has insisted the entitlements won't be touched.

But the Trump administration recently made threats that could impact Social Security payments. Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek, appointed under the Trump administration, suggested shutting down the Social Security Administration entirely in response to a federal judge's ruling that restricted access to sensitive SSA data by DOGE. Such a move could potentially delay or halt payments to millions of Americans who rely on Social Security benefits, including retirees, disabled individuals, and others....