• Elon Musk commented on entitlement spending on Monday, focusing on waste and fraud, suggesting eliminating up to $700 billion in federal spending. His statement caused concerns about potential cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
• The White House clarified that Musk did not call for cutting benefits but highlighted the issue of fraud.
• Sen. Bernie Sanders warned that Musk’s remarks could signal a push toward privatizing Social Security.

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Elon Musk’s recent comments on entitlement spending prompted a flurry of headlines and posts over fears that the Trump administration may cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

“The waste and fraud in entitlement spending — most of the federal spending is entitlements, that’s the big one to eliminate. That’s the sort of half trillion, maybe six, $700 billion,” Musk said in an interview with Fox Business on Monday, March 10.

The Department of Government Efficiency leader’s remarks also raised the question of where he came up with a figure as high as $700 billion.

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What did Musk mean by ‘big one’ to eliminate?

The White House defended Musk in a statement released on Tuesday, March 11, and said he did not call for cutting benefits. Instead, they said he was focused on the waste and fraud within those programs.

The statement also pointed to an estimate from the U.S. Government Accountability Office that said taxpayers lose as much as $521 billion annually to fraud — most of that within entitlement programs.

But, according to the Social Security Administration’s inspector general, the agency made about $72 billion in improper payments from 2015 to 2022 — less than 1% of the $8.6 trillion the agency handed out in benefits during that time.

Musk did, at one point in Monday’s interview, cite the Government Accountability Office report estimating the government may lose up to $521 billion yearly to fraud, but that report covered the entire federal government.

Sen. Bernie Sanders responds to Musk’s remarks

Numbers aside, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Musk’s call for cuts in mandatory federal spending is a step in the direction of Social Security privatization.

“Well, he has called Social Security a Ponzi scheme. They have already laid off 2,500 employees of the Social Security Administration,” Sanders said in an interview with CNN on Monday. “If you ask me, I think this is a prelude not only to cutting benefits, but to privatizing Social Security itself. I think that’s in the back of their mind.”

President Trump’s pledge to protect benefits

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he will not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits, most recently during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” on March 9.

In another recent interview with NBC News, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talked about reforming Social Security and Medicare benefits for future retirees while protecting those already receiving benefits.

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The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a report released on March 5 that Republicans can’t achieve their goal of cutting $2 trillion in federal spending over the next decade without cutting Medicaid.

The current federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2024 is approximately $1.8 trillion.

• NASA said it is closing three offices and laying off nearly two dozen employees as part of workforce reductions ordered by the Trump administration. NASA said that it would close the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy, the Office of the Chief Scientist, and the Diversity Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility branch of its DEI office.
• The space agency will also lay off about two dozen employees.
• In an email to employees obtained by Space News, NASA’s acting administrator Janet Petro wrote that the layoffs are part of moves “mandated by the White House to reduce the size of the federal workforce.”

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NASA said it is closing three offices and laying off nearly two dozen employees as part of workforce reductions ordered by the Trump administration.

What offices are impacted?

NASA announced on Monday, March 10, it would close the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy; the Office of the Chief Scientist; and the Diversity Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility branch of its DEI office.

Around two dozen employees will be laid off due to the closures.

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Why is NASA making the move?

NASA’s acting administrator Janet Petro wrote the layoffs are part of the White House’s effort to reduce the size of the federal workforce.

On Feb. 11, President Donald Trump signed the Workforce Optimization Initiative executive order. The order directed federal agencies to prepare for “large-scale reduction in force.” It also asked for a report due within 30 days on “whether the agency or any of its subcomponents should be eliminated or consolidated.”

Petro said that the closures of the offices are “in advance of the agency’s reduction in force” and part of “the broader governmentwide restructuring effort.”

What did the offices do for the agency?

NASA developed the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy in 2021 to deliver data on issues ranging from space sustainability to space solar research.

NASA’s Chief Scientist Kate Calvin is one of the employees being laid off. She is a key advisor to the agency’s senior leadership on science issues.

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What is the bigger picture?

NASA already had plans to close its diversity office as a result of an executive order issued just days after Trump took office. The executive order directed federal agencies to end DEI programs and terminate employees within them.

Petro said the changes may “mean difficult adjustments” but said it’s “an opportunity to reshape our workforce … while also providing American citizens with an efficient and effective agency.”

• The Supreme Court will hear a case over whether conversion therapy is protected by the First Amendment in its next term. Conversion therapy is meant to convince people to change their sexual orientations or gender identities.
• Colorado banned the practice, but a Christian therapist is arguing that the ban violates the First Amendment right to free speech.
• The lawsuit uses a 2018 Supreme Court ruling as an example. In the ruling, the court said that a California law requiring anti-abortion clinics to notify clients about abortion access violated the First Amendment.

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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case challenging Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy. The case stems from an appeal by a Christian therapist, who argued the ban violates her First Amendment rights.