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WPDE-TV
March 23, 2025
‘A threat to our small business economy;’ SC Small Business Chamber responds to Lutnick
by Perrin Moore
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCIV) — The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce released a statement Sunday calling on President Trump to “consider firing” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick after he made comments about Social Security recipients not complaining if they didn’t receive their checks.
“President Trump should seriously consider firing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for his apparent lack of knowledge about the importance of Social Security and his disregard for our nation’s local small business economies,” SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Frank Knapp, Jr. said Sunday. “His view that the ‘average American’ on Social Security would not complain if the federal government failed to deliver the monthly check implies that these funds are not critical to millions of Americans for meeting their monthly expenses. This attitude demonstrates Secretary Lutnick’s lack of knowledge of the dependency our seniors and local small-business economies have on Social Security benefits being on time.”
Knapp said that around $116 billion is injected into local economies from the Social Security checks 67 million Americans receive monthly, with much of it spent with small businesses for food, rent, and living necessities. The statement concluded:
The economic harm to these small businesses, many operating with small or no profits, would be great. The Trump Administration’s actions to reduce the cost of Social Security and Secretary Lutnick’s comments raise the concern that delaying Social Security checks is being considered. We consider this a serious threat to our small businesses and to the nation’s economy.”
The perception of a “serious threat” comes after Lutnick appeared on an episode of the All-In Podcast Thursday. When asked if he thought recent protests and vandalism incidents at Tesla dealerships were to “put fear” into Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency employees over their actions, the Department of Commerce head said “probably” and put it this way:
Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law, who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain. She just wouldn’t. She’d think something got messed up and she’ll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling, and complaining.
“The easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen,” Lutnick continued. “Because whoever screams is the one stealing. Because my mother-in-law’s not calling. I’m like, come on, your mother, 80-year-olds, 90-year-olds, they trust the government, they trust, ‘OK, maybe it got screwed up, big deal.’ They’re not gonna call and scream at someone. But someone who’s stealing always does.”
US District Judge Ellen Hollander temporarily blocked Musk and his DOGE team from accessing sensitive personal data at the SSA Thursday after several labor unions, retirees, and Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit in Maryland.