Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk and seven other members sit down for an exclusive interview on "Special Report.' (Fox News)
"Now, there's also legislation I have — and the president's talked about this a lot — and it's removing a federal income tax from Social Security benefits. And as we work on the tax package, you're going to see this in one of those reconciliation packages," she said.
"The left and the mainstream media continues to talk a lot about cutting Social Security, and we are not doing that," she said. Blackburn's office is circulating a memo highlighting a quote from President Donald Trump on "Sunday Morning Futures" last month saying he's "not going to touch Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. Now, we’re going to get fraud out of there."
"What we're doing is strengthening. We are not cutting. What we are doing is making certain that people that are defrauding the system, people who are abusing the system, are no longer going to be able to do that. People that have paid into Social Security deserve to get every penny that they are in line to receive as a benefit, and we want to make certain that that happens," the Republican said.
ELON MUSK SCRAPS WITH CHUCK SCHUMER, SUGGESTING THE SENATOR PROFITS FROM GOVERNMENT FRAUD
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., speaks at the Republican National Convention July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats in Congress have raised alarms about cuts made to the Social Security Administration, including 7,000 staff layoffs.
"Make no mistake: What Elon Musk is doing at Social Security is cutting benefits. And Senate Republicans are standing with him. They blocked our amendments last week to protect Social Security from DOGE and reverse the Social Security layoffs and office closures," Schumer tweeted Monday.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
However, Elon Musk said cutting benefits for people actually taking them is not the case.
"The intern running Schumer’s social media account is lying," Musk said in response to Schumer's post Tuesday.
Cameron Arcand is a politics writer at Fox News Digital in Washington D.C. Story tips can be sent to Cameron.Arcand@Fox.com and on Twitter: @cameron_arcand
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-senator-turns-tables-dem-narrative-social-security-medicare