Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. called on the head of President Donald Trump’s Social Security Administration to resign on Tuesday.
Schumer declared a ‘Social Security Day of Action’ during a press conference in New York on Tuesday, accusing Trump, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) of cutting Americans’ social security. Schumer called on acting SSA Administrator Leland Dudek to resign.
‘Dudek is bad medicine for our seniors,’ Schumer said from the podium.
‘Donald Trump and Elon Musk have a hatchet man in Leland Dudek, an acting Commissioner with an emphasis on the ‘acting,’ because his real role is to dismantle the very office he is supposed to lead, make better, and protect,’ he continued. ‘We have seen his audition and his work on the stage, and it is clear: Dudek is incapable of doing this job in the way it needs to be done. He won’t protect seniors. He will hurt them. Leland Dudek should resign.’
‘Republicans are trying to kill Social Security from the inside – it is a cut by another name – and we won’t let that happen,’ Schumer said in another statement.
The press conference comes after Schumer feuded with Musk on social media. The Tesla founder reacted to Schumer’s criticism of DOGE by suggesting the lawmaker was ‘getting a piece of the action with the government fraud.’
‘Another Elon lie. He wants you to think anyone who dares to stand up to him is committing fraud, meanwhile he’s taking tens of billions from the government,’ Schumer declared in a post last week.
Musk also fired off a response to a post in which Schumer suggested that Musk is slashing Social Security benefits.
‘Make no mistake: What Elon Musk is doing at Social Security is cutting benefits,’ Schumer said.
‘The intern running Schumer’s social media account is lying,’ Musk shot back.
During a Senate speech, Schumer claimed that ‘Elon Musk is cutting Social Security benefits.’
‘When offices close down, when websites crash, when phone lines shut off, that’s no different than cutting benefits,’ Schumer said.