Biden Claims Opposition Will Cut Social Security by 13% — But Doing Nothing Would Slash Benefits by 23%
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Vance Cariaga
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Social Security has already become a political football ahead of the 2024 elections, and President Joe Biden heated things up considerably when he recently claimed that Republicans want to slash the program’s benefits by 13%. While the accuracy of that claim is up for debate, there’s no doubt that Social Security benefits face severe cuts in the not-too-distant future.
Biden made his comments during a Nov. 27 event at the White House, according to a report this week from PolitiFact.
“[The Republicans’] plan would cut Social Security benefits,” Biden reportedly said. “I thought [Republicans] agreed not to do this a couple times. But they’re back at it. Average benefit cut would be 13%.”
The president didn’t provide much detail on where he came up with that figure. But it likely stems from proposals made earlier this year by the U.S. House Republican Study Committee (RSC).
In June, the RSC approved a fiscal blueprint that would gradually increase the Social Security full retirement age to 69 years old for seniors who turn 62 in 2033. The current full retirement age is 66 or 67, depending on your birth year.
White House staff told PolitiFact that Biden’s 13% figure originated in a 2020 paper published by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). In that paper, the CBPP estimated that raising the retirement age from 67 to 69 would reduce an “illustrative monthly benefit” from $1,000 to $867, which is a 13.3% cut, PolitiFact reported.
Although the CBPP said its figures are “still applicable,” it also warned against making too many conclusions with so many variables still up in the air.
“There both isn’t enough detail to say what the full (Republican Study Committee) plan is, and there also isn’t a comprehensive assessment of the full plan to say what the average cut would or wouldn’t be,” the group told PolitiFact.
One thing is for certain: The 13% figure is not based on any official GOP platform, because different Republicans have very different ideas about what to do about Social Security.
Former President Donald Trump — the leading GOP presidential candidate and the most dominant force in the Republican party — has been a vocal opponent of cutting Social Security benefits.
“Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security,” Trump said in a January video. “Cut waste, fraud and abuse everywhere that we can find it, and there is plenty of it. But do not cut the benefits our seniors worked for and paid for their entire lives. Save Social Security, don’t destroy it.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed cutting benefits for younger people but not for those who currently or will soon claim Social Security. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has similarly proposed raising the Social Security full retirement age for workers currently in their 20s and limiting Social Security and Medicare benefits for the wealthy.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another GOP candidate, said earlier this year that cuts to Social Security should be considered to keep the program from going “bankrupt.”
The reason so many politicians are staking out positions on Social Security mainly has to do with a looming funding shortfall that involves the Social Security Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, which is expected to run out of money within the next decade. When it does, Social Security will have to depend solely on payroll taxes for funding, and they cover only about 77% of current benefits.
What that means is that if something isn’t done, Social Security recipients could face a 23% reduction in benefits. Many Democrats, including Biden, favor bolstering the program by making more wages subject to the Social Security payroll tax and increasing benefits across the board.
As for Biden’s 13% cut claim: Experts found the 13% figure to be “speculative, but plausible,” according to PolitiFact. At the same time, there “isn’t enough detail to really know,” which is why PolitiFact rated the comment “mostly false.”
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