Biden Budget Calls for Protecting Social Security, as Trump Supports Cuts

Trump’s view, Altman added, “is also consistent with the House Republican FY2025 budget, which proposes creating a commission designed to slash Social Security and Medicare behind closed doors.”

(A Trump aide later said that the former president’s CNBC remarks were about cutting waste, according to The Washington Post.)

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said Monday in a statement that under the Biden’s budget, based on its own estimates, the national debt would rise to $45.1 trillion or 105.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2034, from $27.4 trillion or about 97% of GDP today. The budget would reduce deficits by a net $3.3 trillion over the next decade, relative to its baseline.

“Not helpful is the President’s refusal to touch Social Security, the largest government program, or the roughly 95 percent of taxpayers making less than $400,000 per year,” the Committee said. “That’s like asking a doctor to perform a surgery with one hand tied behind his back.”

Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said Monday in a statement that while Republicans “have long advocated cutting Americans’ earned benefits and have proposed a fiscal commission designed to do just that, the President’s FY25 budget upholds his commitment to protecting Medicare and Social Security for this and future generations.”

The White House budget document “pledges to defend both programs against benefit cuts, Richtman said. “The President calls for extending the solvency of the Social Security trust fund by demanding that the highest-income earners pay their fair share in payroll contributions. The White House budget also urges that seniors receive a boost in benefits, which currently average a modest $1,900 per month.”

SSA would receive a “major increase” under Biden’s budget, Richtman added, as Biden requests $15.4 billion for SSA operations, a nearly 9% increase from the agency’s FY ‘23 funding level.

“The chronically underfunded agency has been struggling to provide proper customer service — including field office closures, long wait times on SSA’s 1-800 phone line, and excessive delays in disability insurance hearings,” Richtman said. “It is past time for SSA to receive truly adequate funding, and the President’s budget represents a major step in that direction.”

Photo: Bloomberg