Speaking in an explosive interview with Fox News Digital, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sounded off on Democrats’ insouciance about protecting Social Security, and thus seniors, from fraud, explaining that she was taking action to do what they wouldn’t and root waste, fraud, and abuse out of the critical programs.
As background, one repeated and untrue allegation leveled at Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency by the left is that DOGE is trying to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits. They have kept up that absurd assertion despite Elon and other DOGE geniuses explaining that they are going after fraud and waste, not legitimate benefits.
In any case, Sen. Blackburn told Fox News Digital that she and her fellow Republicans would take action to defend Social Security with her RETIREES FIRST Act, which would raise the income threshold for when Social Security can be taxed. Beginning, she said, “The message to seniors is really pretty simple. We are going to strengthen Social Security. That is our goal. And one of the ways we’re doing that is by rooting out waste, fraud, abuse.”
Continuing, she explained how her legislation would help seniors, saying, “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.”
Additionally, Sen. Blackburn noted that the woke left was continuing to spread the lie that the Republicans are trying to cut Social Security despite that being entirely untrue, saying, “The left and the mainstream media continues to talk a lot about cutting Social Security, and we are not doing that.”
Explaining the reality of what is going on, Sen. Blackburn noted that the GOP and its DOGE allies are rooting fraud out of entitlement programs, an approach that strengthens Social Security, not cutting it. She said, “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.”
Emphasizing that point, the senator added that those who are reliant on Social Security will get the benefits to which they are entitled and that eliminating fraud will protect rather than harm them. She said, “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.”
"*" indicates required fields
Further commenting on the sort of waste that needs to be rooted out, Sen. Blackburn argued that states like California that waste money on aiding illegals need to foot their own bills. She said, “So it’s all taxpayer money, and when you hear of a state like California who decided — they made a conscious decision, a very intentional decision — that they wanted to provide healthcare for those that were illegally entering the country, and they wanted the taxpayers to pay for it. And Tennesseans will say, ‘Well, we don’t want to shoulder that burden because that’s a policy we don’t agree with.'”
Watch her here: