Kamala Harris
Declaration: “Donald Trump means to reduce Social Protection.”
In the 2024 governmental project, Democrats have actually continuously targeted previous Head of state Donald Trump as a danger to Social Protection.
Vice Head Of State Kamala Harris, simply over a week right into her standing as the presumptive Autonomous candidate, duplicated the line throughout a July 30 rally in Atlanta.
” Donald Trump means to reduce Social Protection and Medicare,” Harris stated.
For this fact-check, we will certainly concentrate on Trump’s prepare for Social Protection. We’ll cover Harris’ insurance claim regarding Medicare in one more fact-check.
Throughout his yearslong period in the public eye, Trump has actually supplied his doubters with a rich vein of statements revealing visibility to reducing Social Protection. Yet the Harris project neglects the majority of what Trump has actually stated throughout the 2024 project– specifically, that he will not cut Social Safety And Security and Medicare.
We formerly ranked a comparable insurance claim by Head of state Joe Biden— whom Harris was successful as the presumptive candidate–Mostly False The proof the Harris project supplied to PolitiFact for this short article was basically the like Biden’s project offered us for our earlier fact-check. It disappears convincing currently.
What is Social Protection’s financial obstacle?
The key threat to the long-term viability of Social Protection, the global earnings assistance program for older Americans, is a lack of employees feeding their tax obligation bucks right into the system, plus an expanding variety of retirement-age Americans certifying to get advantages.
As the child boom generation has actually significantly moved right into retired life, less employees are paying right into the system.
Unless modifications are made, such as boosting the old age or paring advantage degrees, the depend on fund that sustains Social Protection is poised to run out in the 2030s If absolutely nothing is done, considerable cuts would certainly work.
Nevertheless, reducing Social Protection has actually long been the “third rail of politics“– touch it and you pass away politically– so also making smaller sized cuts to stay clear of larger ones in the future has actually been questionable.
That’s why both Biden and Trump vowed in their 2024 projects not to reduce the program.
Trump’s background of declarations on Social Protection
Prior to the 2024 project, Trump teased with assistance for Social Protection cuts.
At the very least 2 referrals happened throughout the 2020 governmental project: a Fox News town hall that was clipped and shared June 12 by the Biden project and an interview with CNBC
And prior to he ended up being head of state, Trump occasionally said that Social Protection required to be reduced or privatized, consisting of in a 2012 meeting with CNBC, a 2004 appearance on MSNBC and a 2000 book, “The America We Are entitled to,” in which he called Social Protection “a massive Ponzi system” and stated he would certainly think about privatization.
” The service to the Great Social Safety And Security Situation could not be much more apparent: Enable every American to commit some section of their pay-roll tax obligations to an individual Social Protection account that they can have and buy supplies and bonds,” he wrote “We can likewise elevate the age for invoice of complete Social Protection advantages to 70.”
Trump’s document in workplace
The Harris project likewise kept in mind that as head of state, Trump submitted budget proposals that consisted of cuts to Social Protection. These were never implemented as a result of resistance in Congress.
Nevertheless, Harris (and Biden prior to her) played down what these cuts included. The suggested cuts were focused on 2 parts of the program– Social Protection Handicap Insurance Coverage and Supplemental Safety And Security Earnings– not the much more commonly utilized old-age and survivor advantages.
SSDI advantages individuals with physical and psychological problems that are extreme sufficient to completely maintain them from functioning. SSI repayments are restricted to low-income Americans– older grownups, or grownups or youngsters that are impaired or blind.
While these cuts would certainly have impacted near to 10 million Americans, the swimming pool of those that get old-age and survivor advantages is virtually seven times as large The Harris project’s choice to framework Trump’s document as cuts to Social Protection may leave individuals thinking that Trump looked for to reduce old-age and survivor advantages, though he really did not.
What Trump has actually stated just recently
Biden and Harris both pointed out a March 11 comment by Trump on CNBC that, when it come to privilege programs such as Social Protection, “there is a whole lot you can do in regards to privileges, in regards to reducing.”
Yet this is the exemption to the regulation for Trump throughout this project cycle, and he right away walked back his CNBC remarks.
In a meeting with the conventional electrical outlet Breitbart News, Trump stated he would certainly “never ever do anything that will certainly threaten or harm” Social Protection. He included, “We’ll need to do it somewhere else. Yet we’re not mosting likely to do anything to harm them.”
The remainder of Trump’s 2024 project unsupported claims is much more lined up with his remark to Breitbart– that he does not mean to reduce Social Protection– than the CNBC declaration regarding being open to cuts.
Greater than a year prior to the CNBC look, Trump uploaded a video to his project web site in which he claims not “a solitary dime” needs to be reduced from Social Protection. “DO NOT CUT the advantages our elders helped and spent for their whole lives,” Trump stated. “Conserve Social Safety And Security. Do not ruin it.”
Trump has repeatedly said he would certainly not reduce Social Protection at project rallies in Michigan and Georgia and in numerous articles on his Truth Social platform
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump project’s nationwide press assistant, informed PolitiFact in June that he “will certainly remain to highly secure Social Protection and Medicare in his 2nd term.”
PolitiFact’s judgment
Harris stated, “Donald Trump means to reduce Social Protection.”
Prior to the 2024 project, Trump stated regarding a six times that he’s open to significant Social Protection overhauls, consisting of cuts and privatization. Most just recently, in a March CNBC meeting, Trump stated of privilege programs such as Social Protection, “There’s a whole lot you can do in regards to privileges, in regards to reducing.”
Nevertheless, Trump swiftly strolled that declaration back, and the CNBC remark stands up in arms with basically whatever else Trump has actually stated throughout the existing governmental project. His project web site claims that not “a solitary dime” needs to be reduced from Social Protection, and he’s duplicated comparable lines in project rallies.
The declaration has an aspect of reality yet neglects essential realities that would certainly offer it a various perception, so we rank it Mainly False.
Our resources
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Kamala Harris, remarks at a rally in Atlanta, July 30, 2024
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PolitiFact, “Joe Biden cherry-picks Donald Trump statement on cutting Social Security,” June 21, 2024
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Biden-Harris project, TikTok, April 4, 2024
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Biden-Harris project, Threads post, April 4, 2024
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White Residence, “Remarks by President Biden on how his investments are rebuilding our communities and creating good-paying jobs, Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” March 14, 2024
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CNBC, “Former President Donald Trump on entitlements: There’s tremendous numbers of things you can do,” March 11, 2024
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Breitbart, “Exclusive — Donald Trump: ‘I will never do anything that will jeopardize or hurt Social Security or Medicare,'” March 14, 2024
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Donald Trump, remarks in an interview with the Daily Signal, 2015
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Trump project web site, “We must protect Medicare and Social Security,” Jan. 20, 2023
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Donald Trump, articles to Fact Social, June 6, 2024, April 13, 2024, March 22, 2024, March 21, 2024, March 14, 2024 and January 10, 2024
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CNN, “Transcript of Republican debate in Miami, full text,” March 15, 2016
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Fox Information, “Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum Host a Town Hall with Donald Trump,” March 5, 2020
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CNBC, “Full interview: President Trump discusses trade, impeachment, Boeing and Elon Musk with CNBC in Davos,” Jan. 22, 2020
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CNN. “Donald Trump once backed 2012 privatization plans for Medicare, despite attacks on key 2024 rival for the same position,” Sept. 26, 2023
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NBC Information, “‘Hardball with Chris Matthews’ for Dec. 13,” Dec. 14, 2004
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CNN, “Trump previously backed policies on Social Security for which he’s now attacking DeSantis, calling the program a ‘Ponzi scheme,‘” April 27, 2023
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Social Safety And Security Management, “Social Security Beneficiary Statistics,” accessed June 14, 2024
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NBC Information, “Donald Trump has been all over the map on Social Security and Medicare,” March 19, 2024
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CNN, “Trump suggests he’s open to cuts to Medicare and Social Security after attacking primary rivals over the issue,” March 11, 2024
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Politician, “Trump tries to clean up his Social Security comments,” March 14, 2024
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Washington Message, “GOP hopefuls’ past positions on Social Security loom over 2024 primary,” Feb. 9, 2023
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Vox.com, “Trump said he wouldn’t cut Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare. His 2020 budget cuts all 3,” March 12, 2019
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FactCheck.org, “Trump’s Comments About ‘Cutting’ Entitlements in Context,” March 15, 2024
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CNN, “Fact check: Harris falsely claims Project 2025 blueprint calls for cutting Social Security,” July 24, 2024
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PolitiFact, “Donald Trump’s false claim that immigration hurts Social Security,” March 20, 2024
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PolitiFact, “When will Social Security sunset? Barring congressional changes, money will deplete by 2034,” Feb. 22, 2023
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PolitiFact, “Sanders’ misleading Social Security attack on Biden,” March 12, 2020
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PolitiFact, “Trump suggested raising Social Security retirement age in 2000, but hasn’t backed it since,” Might 12, 2023
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Declaration from Karoline Leavitt, the Trump project’s nationwide press assistant, June 14, 2024
This short article initially showed up on Austin American-Statesman: PolitiFact: Claim that Trump would cut Social Security lacks basis
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