Washington DC - Far-right billionaire Elon Musk hinted that his so-called Department of Government Efficiency will target social security and Medicare, despite assurances from President Donald Trump that the programs will remain untouched.

In an interview on Fox News, Musk referred to social security and Medicare as "entitlements" – which he claimed make up most of the government's expenditure – and said they would be the "big one to eliminate" if the goal of hitting $1 trillion in spending cuts is to be reached.

According to Fiscal Data published by the Treasury, social security and Medicare collectively made up about 36% of the federal government's outlay in January 2025. This is closely followed by military spending, health, and net interest payments.

Musk also went o to blame immigrants for the US' financial woes, baselessly claiming that the Biden Administration had used spending in social security and Medicare to "attract and retain illegal immigrants."

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Federal law prohibits unauthorized migrants from receiving social welfare benefits, and they are unable to enroll in federally funded medical coverage from Medicaid, CHIP, or Medicare. Most of them do, however, pay taxes which then help fund such systems.

Cuts to social security and Medicare would go against promises made by Trump as recently as Sunday.

"I'm not going to touch Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid," Trump told Fox News. "We're going to get fraud out of there... but that has nothing to do with that."