FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Contact: Linda Benesch, lbenesc
The Trump Administration is Plotting to Privatize Social Security
(Washington, DC) — The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, on Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying that the bill Trump recently signed into law contains a “backdoor to privatizing Social Security”:
“So much for Donald Trump’s campaign promise to protect Social Security. First, he gave Elon Musk the power to gut the Social Security Administration. Now, Trump’s Treasury Secretary has said the quiet part out loud. He is bragging about the Administration’s goal to privatize Social Security.
Trump himself once openly supported Social Security privatization — in a book he wrote in 2000, long before running for President. After George W. Bush’s privatization scheme failed, Trump learned the political lesson and stopped talking about it. But Bessent’s remarks reveal that Trump and his Republican allies still have the same goal they did back then: Turn Social Security over to Wall Street.
First, they are undermining public confidence in Social Security by making false claims about fraud (which is virtually non-existent) and wrecking the system’s service to the public. Then, once they have broken Social Security, they will say that Wall Street needs to come in and save it.
That is a terrible idea. Unlike private savings, Social Security is a guaranteed earned benefit that you can’t outlive. It has stood strong through wars, recessions, and pandemics. The American people have a message for Trump and Bessent: Keep Wall Street’s hands off our Social Security!”
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