Both parties are returning to their roots on Social Security

The future of Social Security will be voted on this November.

Donald Trump’s recent comments to CNBC:There are many things you can do when it comes to cutting.Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid have rightly gotten a lot of attention. This is not the first time President Trump has called for benefit cuts, but it is one of the most explicit. In addition to his plan to cut Social Security, President Trump also wants to extend the 2017 tax cuts. Bringing overwhelming profits to the ultra-rich.

In stark contrast, President Biden’s In the recently announced budget for 2025, While expanding social security, we will demand that the same super-rich pay their fair share. Biden vows to veto any cuts.as He said In the State of the Union, he said, “If anyone here wants to cut Social Security or Medicare or raise the retirement age, I will stop them!”

Importantly, Congressional Democrats some plans One that makes Biden’s ideas a reality. Those plans include: Social Security 2100 Act (Sponsored by Congressman John Larson (D-Connecticut) and co-sponsored by over 180 House Democrats) Social Security Expansion Act (Sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)).

Although the details of the plans differ, the basics are the same. These would generate enough income from the wealthy to allow Social Security to pay not only all current benefits for the time being, but also expanded benefits. These benefit expansions include not only overall benefit increases, but also benefit increases targeted to the most disadvantaged groups, including women and people of color. In fact, Biden’s budget goes further; Offer paid family and medical leave.

That’s the Democratic Party’s vision for the future of Social Security. It’s the same vision that inspired the Democratic Party that enacted Social Security in 1935.President Franklin Roosevelt and his colleagues believed it Paid medical leave would be added over time, along with greater benefits, universal health insurance, short-term disability benefits, and more.

Donald Trump and the Republican Party have completely different visions and plans.A lot Explode the deficit with tax benefits Republicans argue that Social Security cannot pay for wealthy donors. Even Ronald Reagan It is acknowledged that Social Security does not contribute a penny to the budget deficit.

Congressional Republicans trying to force It is the so-called “Finance Committee”, It contains He included a bill in his 2025 budget that would require a government funding bill to be passed. The committee aims to fast-track cuts to Social Security and Medicare behind closed doors.

As a lesson, in 2011; President Trump spoke to Sean Hannity He said Republicans “will lose the election” if they “fall into the Democratic trap” of insisting on cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid without bipartisan cover. Consistent with that, Republicans want to take advantage of an opaque process because they know that cutting Social Security would be extremely unpopular, including with their own voters. They want to work with Democrats behind closed doors to make cuts so voters don’t know who to blame.

Fortunately, Trump didn’t follow his own advice. His recent comments on CNBC exposed the truth. They are not one-offs. When Trump was president all of his budget He proposed cuts to Social Security. Before he became president, he called He has advocated raising the retirement age and privatizing Social Security, and has denigrated the program as a pyramid scheme.

Despite this, much of the media is taking President Trump’s pledge not to cut Social Security and Medicare at face value. He is rarely, if ever, asked to answer what additional revenue he would propose if he rejected all cuts, as Biden has done.

It’s time for that to change.

Both parties are trying to return to their roots regarding social security. Republicans fiercely opposed the creation of Social Security. 1936 presidential candidate Alf Landon called it “Cruel hoax.” Democrats created Social Security and expanded it periodically over the decades. Recently, neoliberals who are willing to cut social security have come to power within the Democratic Party, and the distinction between the two parties has become blurred. But no more.

President Trump and the Republicans running for Congress want to cut Social Security and give tax breaks to the wealthy. Mr. Biden and the Democrats running for Congress want to protect and expand Social Security, paid for by requiring millionaires and billionaires to contribute their share.

President Biden’s budget shows he is the successor to Franklin D. Roosevelt, but Trump’s CNBC comments show he is the successor to Alf Landon. Americans should vote accordingly this November.

Nancy Altman is president of Social Security Works and chair of the Coalition to Strengthen Social Security.