Fact Check

Did Pelosi Tell Seniors, 'You Are Not Entitled to Social Security! It's Gone!'?

The U.S. House Speaker is the frequent target of inflammatory fake quotes.

Published May 13, 2020

 (Kim Wilson / Shutterstock.com)
Image Via Kim Wilson / Shutterstock.com
Claim:
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told senior citizens, "You're not entitled to social security! It's gone!"

In early May 2020, Facebook users reported seeing a headline circulating on the social platform stating, "Pelosi To Seniors: 'You Are Not Entitled to Social Security! It's Gone!'" The story was published on the website BIZ News.

The story contained a number of sensational and false statements such as, "Socialist politicians in the Democratic Party have tried for years to eliminate Social Security, a source of income relied upon by millions in this country just to get by in their old age." While the story didn't actually contain the quote in the headline above, the copy did include an Ebenezer Scrooge-like statement falsely attributed to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:


To be clear, no record exists that Pelosi made this remark or the quoted remark in the BIZ News headline. However, a similar, also-fake quote about Social Security that was attributed to Pelosi circulated in April 2020.

This item is nothing more than an example of junk news. We therefore rate this claim "False."

Sources

Speaker.gov. "Pelosi Statement on 84th Anniversary of Social Security."   14 August 2019.

Bethania Palma is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who started her career as a daily newspaper reporter and has covered everything from crime to government to national politics. She has written for ... read more