On March 12, 2025, Rep. John Larson (D-CT) made headlines when he blasted the Republican members of the Ways and Means Committee for blocking testimony from Elon Musk about plans to privatize Social Security:
I do not understand why you would relegate this committee to no longer being of significance and resort to saying you will do whatever Elon Musk and Donald Trump tell you to do -
The video was mentioned in Chop Wood, Carry Water:
This is how it works, folks. Politicians are inherently risk-averse. They don’t move unless they’re pushed. So we must do exactly that—push them to get outside of their comfort zone and start throwing down. Rep Larson would never have sounded the way he did in that committee hearing if his own constituents hadn’t pushed him relentlessly to do so.
