AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Congress returns to Capitol Hill this week for a schedule full of hearings on hot-button issues - air safety, consumer protections, speech on college campuses and Social Security. NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram joins us now. Hi, Deepa.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Good morning.
RASCOE: So on Tuesday, there will be a confirmation hearing for financial tech businessman Frank Bisignano. He's nominated to be commissioner of Social Security, which is all over the news at the moment. You had Elon Musk calling it a Ponzi scheme at one time and now some surprising comments from the commerce secretary, right?
SHIVARAM: Right, yeah. That interview with Secretary Lutnick has really been making the rounds. It was with the "All-In" podcast.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "ALL-IN")
HOWARD LUTNICK: Let's say Social Security didn't send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, who's 94 - she wouldn't call and complain. She just wouldn't. She'd think something got messed up, and she'll get it next month.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yeah.
LUTNICK: A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.
SHIVARAM: So Democrats, as you can imagine, have jumped on those comments and said it's reason to believe that the Trump administration will try to roll back Social Security benefits, though Trump has said he will protect Social Security. But at the same time, recent actions and comments from people like Lutnick have really concerned people who rely on and advocate for Social Security benefits.
Just a few days ago, there was a back and forth where the acting commission of Social Security, Leland Dudek, said he would shut down the agency because a judge ruled that DOGE - the Department of Government Efficiency - could not access sensitive data from the administration. But then, on Friday, Dudek backtracked and said he would not shut down Social Security.
And this is all coming as the administration has already announced plans to close some Social Security offices and enact stricter identity checks for benefits that could require in-person visits. So all of that to say, there's a lot going on ahead of the hearing on Tuesday.
RASCOE: I mean, generally, changing Social Security - whether cutting it, increasing the eligibility age, privatizing it - that has not proven to be a political winner in the past.
SHIVARAM: No. So, you know, Social Security is extremely popular. A Pew study from last year showed that 79% of Americans say Social Security benefits should not be reduced in any way. And think about it. This is a program that's been around since the 1930s that supports millions of retired people, disabled people, and making any changes to it is politically risky.
I mentioned earlier how Democrats have been responding to the comments from Secretary Lutnick. They've also been quick to center any comments on Social Security from Elon Musk, for example, who has made comments inflating how much fraud takes place with Social Security benefits and who recently called the benefit a Ponzi scheme, like you mentioned. But Social Security is such a popular program that there are also Republicans now, like Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, who are speaking out and criticizing Musk's comments.
RASCOE: The Trump administration is ending a program for people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Even as fleeing the regimes in Cuba and Venezuela resonates with Republicans, what did that program do?
SHIVARAM: So this news came out on Friday. The Department of Homeland Security said it will get rid of legal protections for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. And these are people who have come to the U.S. since October 2022. This order would apply to about half a million people from those countries who arrived to the U.S. specifically with permits to live and work here under the Biden administration. So there was a legal pathway for them to be here because the CHNV program was designed to create more legal pathways of immigration.
But in about a month, DHS says these people would lose their legal status and will face deportation, or the White House is saying they can self-deport. The order is in line with Trump wanting to crack down on humanitarian parole programs and keep his campaign promise of these mass deportations. But I will say it's possible that the courts get involved in the elimination of CHNV, so that may be something to keep an eye on.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Deepa Shivaram. Deepa, thank you so much.
SHIVARAM: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
