‘Big one to eliminate’: Elon Musk spotlights cost of federal entitlements amid fear of cuts to programs
CNN
Elon Musk on Monday highlighted the cost of federal spending on entitlement programs, the latest sign of the tech billionaire and presidential adviser’s focus to downsize the federal government amid fears of cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Elon Musk on Monday highlighted the cost of federal spending on entitlement programs, the latest sign of the tech billionaire and presidential adviser’s focus to downsize the federal government amid fears of cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. “Most of the federal spending is entitlements. So that’s the big one to eliminate. That’s the sort of half trillion, maybe six, 700 billion,” Musk said on Monday in an interview with Fox Business’ Larry Kudlow. Amid reaction to Musk’s interview, President Donald Trump’s communications team defended Musk’s comments, saying in a Tuesday morning X post, “Lying hacks. He was talking about waste, fraud, and abuse — of which there is $500+ billion every year.” The SpaceX and Tesla CEO questioned federal entitlements in his interview, particularly the number of people benefiting from social security and Small Business Administration loans. “The president’s gone through a long list of absurd things. Why are there 20 million people who are definitely dead marked as alive in the social security database? Why were hundreds of millions of dollars of Small Business Administration loans were given out to people aged 11 and under, according to the Social Security?” Musk questioned. Trump repeated a similar false claim during his speech to a joint session of Congress last week, where he said 4.7 million people who are at least 100 years old are still listed in the Social Security Administration’s database and that “money is being paid to many of them.”
Two people are dead and others are missing after a fire and explosion tore into a nursing home on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, spurring local responders, bystanders and staff to rush the elderly population to safety, Gov. Josh Shapiro said.
Botched Epstein redactions trace back to Virgin Islands’ 2020 civil racketeering case against estate
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Some Medicare enrollees may soon be able to access super-popular drugs for obesity under a voluntary model program, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Tuesday. Eligible beneficiaries will only have to pay $50 a month.
The Justice Department’s leadership asked career prosecutors in Florida Tuesday to volunteer over the “next several days” to help to redact the Epstein files, in the latest internal Trump administrationpush toward releasing the hundreds of thousands of photos, internal memos and other evidence around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The US State Department on Tuesday imposed visa sanctions on a former top European Union official and employees of organizations that combat disinformation for alleged censorship – sharply ratcheting up the Trump administration’s fight against European regulations that have impacted digital platforms, far-right politicians and Trump allies, including Elon Musk.
A Delaware state trooper was killed along with the suspected gunman Tuesday during a shooting at a motor vehicle agency near Wilmington, authorities said.
Wyoming’s lone U.S. representative is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Cynthia Lummis, who isn’t seeking re-election.
A new lawsuit filed in Washington, DC’s federal court Monday challenges the Kennedy Center board of trustees’ move to add President Donald Trump’s name to the cultural institution.
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Some staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs are finding little to be merry about after the agency said it would eliminate tens of thousands of open, unfilled positions across the country as it looks to streamline its staffing.
Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse announced Tuesday that he’s been diagnosed with “metastasized, stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.”
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Political opposites are closing 2025 as they did 2024: on each side of America’s Donald Trump divide. But CNN’s “All Over the Map” survey did provide several interesting takeaways. Some may be instructive about the midterm election climate, at least at this beginning stage.