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

President Joe Biden vowed Monday in his 2025 budget to protect Social Security by opposing any benefit cuts as well as proposals to privatize Social Security. Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, told CNBC's Squawk Box the same day that he'd make massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare if reelected.

Biden's budget states that he'd extend Social Security's solvency by asking the highest-income Americans to pay their fair share.

"Currently, middle-class and lower-income Americans pay Social Security taxes on all of their earnings, but higher-income Americans do not. That's not fair," a Fact Sheet of Biden's budget states.

Biden's budget also funds staff, information technology and other improvements at SSA, increasing the agency's funding by 9% from the 2023 enacted level, the fact sheet states.

Social Security Commissioner Martin O'Malley said Monday in a statement that "the Administration supports efforts to improve Social Security benefits, as well as SSI benefits, for seniors and people with disabilities, especially for those who face the greatest challenges making ends meet."

Trump: 'A Lot You Can Do … in Terms of Cutting'

"Make no mistake: Social Security is on the ballot this November," Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, said Monday in a statement.

This morning, Trump "went on television and called for cuts to Social Security, along with Medicare and Medicaid," Altman said.

On CNBC's "Squawk Box," Joe Kiernen asked Trump his opinion on entitlement spending in the face of a ballooned federal deficit.

"First of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting, and in terms of, also, the theft and bad management of entitlements," Trump responded. "Tremendous bad management of entitlements. There's tremendous amounts of things and numbers of things you can do. So I don't necessarily agree with the statement."

"This is consistent with Trump's record as President, when he proposed cuts in every single one of his budgets and tried to permanently eliminate Social Security's dedicated funding," Altman continued. "It is consistent with Trump's past calls to privatize Social Security and raise the retirement age, as well as his slandering it as a 'Ponzi scheme.'"

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