Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Scott Bessent Slams ‘Discombobulated’ Chuck Schumer Over ‘Extreme’ Social Security Rhetoric

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticized Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday for claiming President Donald Trump’s administration aims to demolish social security “from within.”

Schumer said during a Wednesday press conference that the administration’s “goal” is to “make [Social Security] so unworkable, so inefficient, that Donald Trump has the pretext to slash benefits to kill it and then privatize the program.” Bessent said on “The Story with Martha MacCallum” that Schumer’s alarmist rhetoric is obviously false and unhelpful.

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“Senator Schumer seems a little discombobulated these days. He did the right thing on passing the clean CR [continuing resolution] last week. He’s taken a lot of shrapnel from his party. And extreme statements like this are not helpful for anyone,” Bessent said. “The American people, and they voted for President Trump, voted for accountability. And whether it’s DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency], whether it is our efforts at Treasury and the IRS, we are bringing accountability and efficiency in.”

“And we want to make things better for the American people,” he continued. “We want to ensure that they get everything that they have paid in and their benefits are there when they need them as they need them … Senator Schumer is way off-base here.”

Bessent also highlighted how Trump’s Tuesday executive order to modernize government payments could help ensure seniors receive their social security payments.

“President Trump yesterday signed an executive order at Treasury mandating that we examine our payment system and try to get more people onto the electronic payment platform,” he said. “Because you may not know it but there is a huge amount of theft of seniors’ Social Security checks so if they are able to get into an electronic payment system, then they are much more secure. They come earlier and they are guaranteed.”

Trump has repeatedly pledged to not cut Social Security. He even urged the Republican Party in January 2023 to not “cut a single penny” from the program.

An August 2024 report by the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of the Inspector General found an estimated $72 billion worth of improper payments between fiscal years 2015 and 2022.

Trump appointed Leland Dudek to lead the SSA in February after its acting commissioner reportedly resigned following a dispute over access to sensitive documents, according to The Washington Post. Dudek previously managed SSA’s anti-fraud office.