The Effect Elon Musk’s Social Security Office Closures - Senator Raphael Warnock
07:21 Share

More rewards, more savings. With American Express Business Gold, earn up to $395 back in annual statement credits on eligible purchases at select shipping, food delivery, and retail subscription merchants, including the $155 Walmart Plus monthly membership credit and $240 flexible business credit. Enjoy the benefits of membership with the Amex Business Gold Card. Terms apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash business dash gold. Amex Business Gold Card, built for business by American Express.

You may get a little excited when you shop at Burlington. What a low price! Did you see that? They have my favorites! Like a whole new burlap! I can buy two! I'm saving so much! Burlington saves you up to 60% off other retailers' prices every day. Will it be the low prices or the great brands? You'll love the deals. You'll love Burlington. I told you so.

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast. This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla, X, the Boring Company, and Neuralink. I'm your host, Will Walden. Thank you, Chairman Crapo. Mr. Bizigmano, welcome to you and to your family present today. Congratulations.

Thank you for your nomination. Thank you for meeting with me in my office a couple weeks ago. I enjoyed that. Thank you. Thank you. I look forward to continuing our conversation. I want to follow up on some of the issues that we discussed in my office. When we met, I shared with you my strong view that retirees in Georgia who rely on Social Security deserve reliable, timely delivery of their full benefits with world-class customer service services.

And you've got a long record of delivering that in the private sphere. That's why so many Georgians and I were alarmed looking at what's happening. Last month, when several news outlets reported that Elon Musk and his Doge team announced on their own website plans to permanently close five Social Security customer service offices throughout Georgia.

These closures in Brunswick, Columbus, Gainesville, Thomasville, and Vidalia would give Georgia the highest number of planned Social Security office closures of any state. Those five cities represent five counties with over 136,000 people who rely on Social Security benefits. But since I raised the alarm, since I made some noise about this,

Doge is suddenly out on X, I guess that's what you call the platform now, denying the closures that it posted on its own website. They posted those closures on their website. And now no one seems to know what's true or whether or not these announced closures will affect Georgians' access to their benefits or other services. So, sir, I know that you aren't currently at the Social Security Administration.

and perhaps you can't speak to the plans hatched by Elon Musk or Doge without you, but if you're confirmed to lead the agency,

Americans deserve to know who will actually be in charge of their benefits. I think we heard an answer from you a moment ago from my colleague, but I'm going to ask you again for the record. Where will the buck stop on this decision, specifically with respect to office closures? As someone who represents a state where they announced five closures, I made noise about it. It was on their website. Then they withdrew them and acted like I made it up.

They put it on their website. I just need to know when it comes to office closures, who's going to be making that decision? You or Elon Musk? Me. That's a good answer. And so I hope to be able to follow up with you on that. And I'm 100% available for you, sir. What was that? I'm 100% available for you. I appreciate that. And not with, you know, I appreciate that, but so that the seniors in my state

Those are the folks I'm concerned about. Yep. My own mom. That makes two of us. And others. Will you commit to keeping all field offices in my state open for Georgia seniors? You know, I've asked this question more than one time today. And what I will commit to is that there will be no decision made without you knowing about it. I have no intent to close field offices, but I've studied nothing on the topic.

So it's a little hard to commit to something. I think study is a good thing. And what we've seen so far is no study, no real knowledge about what's going on, just an effort to close offices to be able to announce that you're addressing waste, fraud and abuse. And we all know this is true, regardless of whether we're Democrats or Republicans, because then they have to go back and rehire some of the people they fired.

And you're a businessman, sir. And you said earlier you wouldn't operate in this way. The reason I'm asking about these field offices and these announced changes, because it could lead to an increase of 7 million visits to field offices per year across the country. The fact that they're now not allowing you to call on the phone.

an estimated 200,000 additional visits in Georgia alone, which is why, frankly, I think that it's a terrible idea. But if confirmed, will you commit to increased staffing at Georgia field offices to account for this massive expected increase in appointments and to help ensure Georgians can easily and efficiently make appointments? Let me be clear about what I'm asking. If you're no longer able to call on the phone,

which is a decision that's already been made, and you've got to go online or go to the office and actually have an in-person appointment, you're going to have a backlog. So I want to know what's the answer to that. How is it that I can assure the seniors in my church that their lines are going to get longer and longer? I disagree with the Commerce Secretary who said, well, if his mother-in-law missed a check, she wouldn't worry about it. I guess she wouldn't. Her son-in-law is a billionaire.

That is not the story of the seniors in my church.

This episode is brought to you by Enterprise Mobility. From fleet management to flexible truck rentals to technology solutions, Enterprise Mobility helps businesses find the right mobility solutions so they can find new opportunities. Because if your business is on the road, they want to make sure it's on the road to success. Enterprise Mobility. Moving you moves the world. Find your road at EnterpriseMobility.com.

Will you make sure that they have access to find out what's going on with the benefits that they have earned? Senator, first of all, thank you very much. You know, I've spent my career overseeing financial institutions, and today I serve 3,500 financial institutions in America. And that means we have community banks, rural banks,

And I know what it means to have to serve neighborhoods and also serve rural communities. You know, my commitment is that it will be a fact-based

rule-based organization we run that we will ensure we have the staffing to get the best level of service for our constituents. So I'm giving you a longer answer, but we will have the talent that we need to get the job done at a service level better than today's. I appreciate the answer. I'm just trying to get Georgia residents, senior citizens involved

the benefits that they have earned. No one's giving them anything. They've paid into the system. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Senator Blackburn. Thanks for listening to the Elon Musk podcast today. I appreciate your support and I appreciate you spending the time here with me today.

Now, if you could take a second and hit the subscribe or follow button on whatever podcast platform you're listening on right now, that would be amazing. And it would help the show tremendously. So thank you for that. Also, please take care of yourselves and each other. And I'll see you in the next one.