A top House Democrat exploded in anger during a committee hearing on Wednesday, outraged over the absence of Elon Musk, the leader of President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), whose team has turned their attention to Social Security. Musk this week has suggested there is tremendous fraud and waste in “entitlements,” which would also suggest a focus on Social Security.

“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.

The Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security, U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-CT) shouted, screamed, pointed, and pounded his fist during remarks on Wednesday. Larson was furious over what he said were Musk’s plans to privatize Social Security.

“Where is Elon Musk?” Congressman Larson demanded to know. “I’m sure he’s a genius and is a very credible person because of the wealth he’s accumulated, but that does not put him above the law or the responsibility to come before this committee in this Congress.”

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“If he’s so great, if these plans and all the fraud and abuse that he found are so eminent, why isn’t he here explaining it?” the Connecticut Democrat demanded to know. “You know why? Because he’s out to privatize Social Security. He’s been on television the last couple of days, talking exactly about Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and what he intends to do, privatize it.”

“The American people, some of them may have been born at night, but not last night,” Larson angrily quipped.

Asking one Congressman why “you won’t even let the person who’s planning to privatize” Social Security come before the committee, Larson alleged that Musk is “telling the big lie in front of everyone, in bold as he possibly can, saying, this is what we’re gonna do, the Congress is in our back pocket, we don’t even have to come before them and testify, because we control the House, we control the Senate, and we control the Presidency, and it’s the tyranny of the executive.”

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Larson accused Congress of having “not done anything in more than 54 years. And now you have someone coming in to privatize a system, something you have longed to do, going back to 1982?”

“Because Elon Musk thinks that this is the best thing to do? President Trump has called Social Security a scam.” Elon Musk, Larson added, has “called it a Ponzi scheme.”

“No other agency operates for under less than one percent with what they administered to over 70 million people in the nation’s number one anti-poverty program for the elderly and children.”

“If he’s right, if they’re so good, if they’re so just, why aren’t they here telling the American people about it?” Larson asked. “They’re not because you know the truth. It’s about privateization.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

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A prominent Republican U.S. Senator is praising the Trump administration’s aggressive push to drastically slash staffing, programs, and the scope of the U.S. Department of Education, as it aims for its complete elimination. U.S. Senator Jim Banks of Indiana asserts that the federal laws overseen by the agency—particularly those protecting children, including minority and disabled students—will be enforced by all 50 states.

In general, states lack the legal authority and jurisdiction to enforce federal law.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced on Tuesday that approximately 50% of the workforce of her agency, about 1300 employees, will be terminated. She said it is the first step in entirely eliminating the agency, which technically would require an act of Congress.

“This has been a long time coming,” Banks told Fox News, urging Congress to “abolish” the Department of Education. Banks also pushed so-called “school choice,” programs which allow taxpayer dollars to be used for private and religious schools.

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“I think it’s simple,” Senator Banks, a far-right Republican and former Chair of the ultra-conservative House Republican Study Committee, told Fox News on Wednesday (video below) when asked how disabled school children will be protected without the federal agency.

“That will be done at the state level. A federal bureaucrat who’s in Washington, D.C., can’t protect schools and kids in Indiana,” Banks insisted. “Getting the federal government out of the way and letting schools take care of these issues with those tax dollars — more tax dollars will be spent at the local level — will help that happen in a much better way.”

Senator Banks’s own state of Indiana has a less than stellar record of compliance with federal — and even its own state — nondiscrimination laws, going back as far as the 1940s and 1950s.

Later, Senator Banks declared, “It’s long past time that we have a President who is serious about getting the federal government out of education.”

New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced on Wednesday that she will take the Trump administration to court over its attempts to shut down the Department of Education.

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“The U.S. Department of Education is vital to our students, our teachers, our parents, and countless communities across our nation. Gutting this agency is illegal and will harm millions. We will once again see this administration in court,” James wrote.

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s website, the “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free appropriate public education to eligible children with disabilities throughout the nation and ensures special education and related services to those children.”

That federal law prior to 1990 was called the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA). It was enacted “in 1975 to support states and localities in protecting the rights of, meeting the individual needs of, and improving the results for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities and their families.”

The Dept. of Education also noted that “Before EHA, many children were denied access to education and opportunities to learn. In 1970, U.S. schools educated only one in five children with disabilities, and many states had laws excluding certain students, including children who were deaf, blind, emotionally disturbed, or had an intellectual disability.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

FOX NEWS: The Department of Education is tasked with protecting disabled students across America. How are you going defend this?

SEN. JIM BANKS: I think it’s simple. That will be done at the state level. pic.twitter.com/qTm7hlZPTq

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 12, 2025

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Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

As President Donald Trump showcased Tesla electric vehicles on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday, he faced questions about the timing of what is being called a “car commercial.” With stock markets tumbling—taking retirement accounts with them—and some Americans grappling with job uncertainty, some wondered about his decision to highlight automobiles made by a company run by his top advisor and largest donor, Elon Musk.

But President Trump insisted everything was fine.

“Well I think they’re going to do great,” he said, insisting that prices are “all coming down” as he complained about the economy he “inherited.”

“We didn’t have these problems,” Trump told reporters, referring to his first term in office.

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“I had no inflation. I had a great economy. He gave you high prices,” Trump said, criticizing President Joe Biden.

“You couldn’t buy bacon, you couldn’t buy anything, and also, I inherited a situation with eggs,” Trump said. “The price of eggs was through the roof. Well, now the price of eggs has come down a lot.”

“It’s all coming down. It’s all a beautiful thing,” Trump proclaimed.

Wednesday morning, The Associated Press reported, “US egg prices increased by an average of 10.4% last month, Consumer Price Index shows.”

“Egg prices have soared nearly 59% compared with a year ago, and is by far the highest inflated price on the Consumer Price Index report,” Fox9, a Fox affiliate, added.

The Consumer Price Index released one month ago also showed egg prices had risen to a “record high.”

“Egg prices hit a record high as the U.S. contends with an ongoing bird flu outbreak, but consumers didn’t need government figures … to tell them eggs are terribly expensive and hard to find at times,” the Associated Press reported last month.

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On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins declared that the “average cost of a dozen eggs has now gone down $1.85 since we announced our plan about a week-and-a-half ago,” before appearing to also blame the high cost of eggs on “Easter season.”

Separately on Tuesday, Secretary Rollins wrote: “Wholesale egg prices dropped roughly ~$2.60/dozen from their peak this month — prices will likely fluctuate but relief is in sight as we fix what Biden broke!”

Secretary Rollins did not mention her source, but the weekly “Egg Markets Overview,” a publication of her USDA, on March 7 reported that a decline in demand was the cause for lower wholesale egg prices.

Last week, Secretary Rollins suggested Americans might want to consider raising chickens in their backyards to alleviate the high cost of eggs.

Watch the Trump Tesla event below or at this link.

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Image via Reuters