Elon Musk Responds to Senator Fetterman’s Claims About D.O.G.E

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has fired back at US Senator John Fetterman over claims that the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E) is “rummaging through Americans’ personal data.” The heated exchange unfolded on X, where Fetterman shared a report alleging that D.O.G.E could gain access to private taxpayer data.

In a Monday evening X post, Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, shared a screenshot of a Politico article titled “Possible DOGE Access to Private Taxpayer Data Sparks Outcry,” with the caption: “I want to save billions of your money and make our government more efficient. Rummaging through your personal stuff is not that. A party of chaos loses—always.”

A little over an hour later, Musk responded to the Senator’s comments by sharing a chart of what he described as a “HUGE problem” within the US Social Security Administration (SSA).

> Bruh, if I wanted to rummage through random personal stuff, I could have done that at PAYPAL. Hello???
> Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as “ALIVE” when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem.
> Obviously.
> Some of these people would have been alive… https://t.co/L17rSBR1Tb
> — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 17, 2025

The “First Buddy” shared data from D.O.G.E revealing discrepancies within the SSA’s records, where approximately 21 million people listed as “alive” are over 100 years old.

“Some of these people would have been alive before America existed as a country. Think about that for a second,” Musk surmised.

Does America Really Have a High “Aged” Population?

According to a recent X thread from the Kobeissi Letter, US Census data from 2020 indicates that only 80,000 Americans were aged 85 or older at that time. Looking at the SSA database, there are over 1,041 individuals aged over 220 years, and one listing a person over 360 years old.

> You can’t make this up:
> Social Security may go insolvent by 2034 and Elon Musk just called it “the biggest fraud in history.”
> According to new DOGE data, ~21 million people aged 100+ in the SSA database are listed as ALIVE in the US.
> What is happening here?
> (a thread) https://t.co/cwIGTRMFBb
> — The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) February 17, 2025

There’s no evidence of any person in the US, or the world, being 300 years old. The oldest known living person, as of February 2025, is 116-year-old Inah Canabarro Lucas, living in Brazil.

The Kobeissi Letter referenced a 2023 SSA audit that concluded the agency had likely failed to record death information for nearly 18.9 million individuals. This raises concerns about American taxes potentially funding billions in improper payments to people who are deceased.

However, some netizens argue that even if the SSA did not record people over 115 years old as “dead,” it does not necessarily imply they are alive. “Elon does not say that these people are *receiving SS benefits, simply that they are in the dataset.*”

Another critic pointed out that the database uses a default date of birth for unknown cases. “If Elon or his team were competent, they’d know that,” they stated.

Trillions in Government Spending in Question

Beyond the SSA age group data, the SSA’s Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) programs made $8.3 billion in improper payments in 2022, three times higher than the previous year. This does not include the $4.6 billion in improper Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments during the same period.

Without D.O.G.E’s intervention, Social Security spending in 2025 is projected to reach 21% of all taxable payroll, while revenue is expected to cover only 14%. This 7% shortfall is deemed “unsustainable” by economists.

The US Treasury has implemented a new policy mandating the use of Treasury Access Symbols (TAS) for all federal payments, previously optional for an estimated $4.7 trillion in transactions, rendering many untraceable.

Investigations to recover funds will delve deeper into the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as reports indicate the agency considers granting D.O.G.E officials access to taxpayer data.

If approved, this would provide Musk’s team, led by software engineer Gavin Kliger, with broad access to IRS systems, including tax returns and bank information. Kliger is reportedly working from IRS headquarters, expected to serve as a senior adviser.

A White House spokesperson defended the IRS probe, stating: “Waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long. It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it.”