As DOGE hacks away at Social Security, Seattle constituent was incorrectly marked dead; this week, he’s still fighting SSA to get his money back; Cantwell: These billionaires are “so out of touch with the American people.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), senior member of the Senate Finance Committee and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, joined Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democratic colleagues at a press conference standing up for Social Security in the face of multiple Trump Administration efforts that will make it harder for recipients to access the benefits they earned and are entitled to.
“Social Security is a contract between citizens and their government, so they can retire with dignity. 1.4 million people in the State of Washington want that right, of what they sacrificed and paid in to have that retirement. But what have they gotten out of the Trump administration?” Sen. Cantwell said. “First, cutting the workforce, then trying to cut offices, then coming up with a suggestion that that you should re-register to even qualify for Social Security. Is that any way to meet the contractual obligation our government has to help people have a minimal amount of dignity in retirement? But no – instead, this administration is trying to claim fraud.”
Referencing previous remarks from billionaire and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on a conservative podcast claiming that anyone who complains about missed Social Security payments must be a fraudster, Sen. Cantwell added: “I guess he is so out of touch with the American people that he doesn’t understand that people are depending on that for a lifeline.”
Yesterday, during a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Cantwell pressed Frank Bisignano — President Trump’s pick to serve as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration — on recent comments by Trump officials attacking Americans’ Social Security benefits.
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In the State of Washington, 1.4 million people receive Social Security. Below is a breakdown of Social Security Recipients by county:
| County | Number of Social Security Recipients |
| King Co. | 312,000+ |
| Spokane Co. | 115,000+ |
| Clark Co. | 98,000+ |
| Yakima Co. | 46,000+ |
*County data sourced from SSA.gov*
At yesterday’s hearing, Sen. Cantwell referenced a constituent in Seattle who was incorrectly presumed dead shortly after Elon Musk sicced his DOGE team on the Social Security Administration. DOGE staffers were specifically tasked with seeking out evidence that tens of millions of dead people are receiving Social Security benefits – a false claim made by both President Trump and Musk. Subsequently, Ned Johnson was incorrectly listed as dead by SSA, which failed to issue his next Social Security check and clawed back over $5,000 in prior benefits payments from his and his wife’s joint bank account.
Sen. Cantwell said in the hearing, “And then what did he do? He had to go down to the building in Seattle, the federal building that you’re trying to close, and stand in line for hours and hours and hours to try to say he wasn’t dead and to stop taking his money.”
Although his money was originally returned, on Monday the Social Security Administration withdrew the same amount from Mr. Johnson’s bank account yet again. He also found out that the administration had notified his Medicare carrier of his “demise,” so Mr. Johnson and his wife, Pam, went without health insurance for three months, KUOW reported this morning.
Sen. Cantwell has been a long-standing champion for Social Security and protecting Washingtonian’s benefits. Sen. Cantwell co-sponsored and voted in December 2024 to pass the bipartisan Social Security Fairness Act, which repealed two Social Security policies that unfairly limited payments for people who also receive a pension from a job that is not covered by Social Security, as well as their surviving spouses and widow(ers). In 2018, Sen. Cantwell introduced and passed the Tribal Social Security Fairness Act to correct a long-standing inequity in the Social Security Act that prevented elected tribal leaders from contributing to and accessing Social Security benefits.
Video of Sen. Cantwell’s remarks today are available HERE, audio HERE, and a transcript is HERE.
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