By Mariane Angela, Daily Caller News Foundation | April 02, 2025
Fox News host Martha MacCallum called out Democratic Delaware Sen. Chris Coons Wednesday for ignoring recent findings by the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that highlight rampant waste and fraud within the Social Security system.
Members of DOGE, currently investigating Social Security for fraud and waste, announced on social media that they have been actively cleaning up that program’s records for the past four weeks, marking approximately 9.9 million number holders aged 120 and older as deceased, with around 2 million more expected to follow. During an appearance on “The Story With Martha MacCallum,” the host questioned the senator’s reaction to DOGE‘s findings, which include fraudulent payments.
“Were you as shocked as I was when you heard some of those numbers? Some of the information about how much fraud is happening in Social Security?” MacCallum asked.
“Not only do I not believe some of what was just shared there, but the Trump administration’s acting administrator of Social Security has said that less than one-tenth of 1% of the payments put out by the Social Security administration are fraudulent or in error,” Coons said. “Let’s be clear about some of the things that were just played. There are people whose names are on the rolls as having been born 150 or 200 years ago. They are not receiving Social Security payments.”
“[Elon Musk and DOGE] are getting into the systems, and they are getting the access to the individual information of millions of Americans. Elon Musk has made it clear he thinks Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme is itself fraudulent, fake, criminal or illegal. I don’t think Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. I think 70 million Americans depend on it for their principal source of income.”
MacCallum next spoke of a problem that she said Social Security will have during the next decade.
“You say all those millions of people [who depend on Social Security]. You don’t care about the ones that are going to never get it because it’s going to be insolvent in 10 years,” MacCallum said. “What have Democrats done? What did Joe Biden’s administration do to find the waste, fraud and abuse in Social Security to try to shore up this important agency?”
Coons, as he responded, said he did not have faith in DOGE.
“I will believe what the GAO says or the inspector general or the administrator of Social Security. Because I’ve had senior folks from DOGE lie to my face about other federal agencies where they claim they have found widespread waste, fraud and abuse where previous audits did not find that waste, fraud and abuse,” Coons said.
As the interview concluded, MacCallum remained skeptical.
“I remember there being an active interest by Democrats in saying we know that there is a lot of waste in our government, and now you are telling me there isn’t,” MacCallum said.
Coons said Tuesday that Republican lawmakers are attempting to cut Social Security benefits, despite a fact sheet from Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle indicating that federal law and Senate rules prevent such changes during the budget reconciliation process.
Mariane Angela is a news reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation
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