The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Leland Dudek, has privately said Social Security benefits are in a far more precarious place than has been widely understood. In a recording obtained by ProPublica, Dudek framed the administration’s planned cuts of at least 7,000 Social Security workers as “the president’s” agenda.

On Wednesday, Democratic Congressmember John Larson lashed out at Elon Musk and his Republican colleagues during a Social Security subcommittee meeting.

Rep. John Larson: “If he’s so great, if these plans and all the fraud and abuse that he’s found are so imminent, why isn’t he here explaining it? 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.”