Scoop: Senate Dems to launch Social Security war room
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Washington on March 27, 2025. Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Senate Democrats will launch a war room Tuesday dedicated to fighting back against the Department of Government Efficiency's cuts to Social Security, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The White House is planning service cuts to Social Security that current and former officials warn would break an already strained system.
- The war room will serve as a central hub for Senate Democrats to plan messaging, create content, provide oversight, make field visits and host town halls to pummel the GOP on the issue.
- The Trump administration is planning to cut some identity verification phone services at the Social Security Administration next month, after postponing the move last week.
- Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) organized the war room, we are told.
The big picture: DOGE continues to slash agencies and programs across the federal government. Social Security is where Democrats are digging in the hardest.
- DOGE's targeting of Social Security is a powerful political tool for Democrats, who know that cuts to the agency are deeply unpopular with voters.
- The war room will mean a more intensive Democratic offensive on the issue, including holding more town halls in GOP congressional districts and visiting Social Security offices around the country.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) last week privately met with Democrats to discuss how to target GOP moderates on issues like Social Security and Medicaid.
Zoom out: The Democrats will announce the war room after the Senate Finance Committee will likely advance the nomination of President Trump's pick to be Social Security commissioner on Tuesday.
- Schumer will join the lawmakers who organized the war room at the event announcing the initiative.
- Democrats have sounded the alarm on the nominee, Frank Bisignano. He said at a Senate hearing last week that he would "run the agency in the right fashion."
Go deeper: Schumer targets GOP moderates on Medicaid, Social Security
