57% Say ‘Securing Social Security’ Is Priority — Have Biden, Trump or Other Presidential Candidates Detailed Their Plans?
Written by
Vance Cariaga
Edited by
Daria Uhlig
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In a political environment where partisan divisions have reached a fever pitch on everything from war to gas stoves, it’s hard to find much common ground between Democrats and Republicans. But there is one thing they agree on: More should be done to protect Social Security — and 2024 presidential candidates need to lay out their plans for doing so.
A 2022 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 57% of U.S. adults cited making Social Security more financially sound as one of their top policy priorities. Comparable shares in both parties agreed on the issue, including 58% of Republicans and 56% of Democrats.
The future of Social Security has become a hot topic during the 2024 presidential campaign because of a looming funding shortfall. The program’s Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is expected to run out of money within the next decade, leaving Social Security solely dependent on payroll taxes. Those taxes currently cover only about 77% of benefits.
There is growing concern in some quarters that the leading 2024 presidential candidates have not provided enough details on how they plan to fix the problem. That includes President Joe Biden, who seeks re-election to a second term this year.
A recent article from the Virginia Mercury cited comments made by Dan Adcock, director of government relations & policy at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. During an interview with States Newsroom, Adcock said it “behooves the president to try to come up with a proposal that would extend solvency and not have to wait until the last minute … The effectiveness of those proposals go down as you get closer to the solvency day.”
In fairness, Biden has proposed a 4-point plan to boost Social Security that would mostly impact high earners who can depend on their retirement savings to get by. The challenge is getting a divided Congress to support the plan. Here’s a look at the president’s proposals:
- Tax earned income above $400,000, leaving wages between $160,200 and $400,000 untaxed. In 2024, any wages above $168,600 are not taxed, up from $160,200 in 2023.
- Change the calculation for determining annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) so they are no longer based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Biden favors basing the COLA on the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E).
- Raise the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) age that determines how much money you’ll receive in Social Security benefits.
- Raise the special minimum benefit for lifetime lower-wage workers to 125% of the federal poverty level for Social Security beneficiaries.
The leading Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, has said that he has no plans to touch Social Security if he returns to the White House. Last year Trump said that “under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security.” He backed that claim up a month ago, saying that “you don’t have to touch Social Security.”
Presumably, this means Trump will leave the program alone. But some skeptics suggest that Trump’s campaign rhetoric on Social Security doesn’t square with his record as president. As previously reported by GOBankingRates, Trump’s 2020 budget proposal included $25 billion worth of cuts to Social Security. It is unclear whether those proposed cuts would impact benefits.
The three other leading GOP candidates — Nikki Haley, Chris Christie and Ron DeSantis — have mainly floated ideas that would reduce Social Security spending rather than raise taxes. Here’s a look at some of their suggestions:
- Haley: The former South Carolina governor has said she supports keeping Social Security the same for anyone who’s in their 40s, 50s, 60s or older. “We’ll preserve Social Security and Medicare for the next generation,” Haley said. However, she’d limit benefits for the wealthy and is a proponent of raising the retirement age, but “only for younger people who are just entering the system.”
- Christie: The one-time governor of New Jersey has been the most vocal candidate in terms of proposing cuts to Social Security benefits. Last summer Christie warned that Social Security will go bankrupt next decade and it’s time to start thinking about cutting the program. That statement raised eyebrows, partly because Social Security is mostly funded through payroll taxes and is in no danger of going bankrupt anytime soon. Christie has also proposed raising the Social Security benefits age for Americans currently under 50 years old and eliminating benefits for the wealthy.
- DeSantis: The Florida governor told Fox News that he might consider cutting benefits for future generations while keeping benefits for current seniors intact. Those comments stood in contrast to what DeSantis told Fox News in March, which was that Republicans are “not going to mess with Social Security.” DeSantis also addressed the issue of privatization during the interview, saying that the idea is “totally not on the table.”
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