Want to take Social Security early? Some 2024 GOP candidates want to raise the retirement age
Democratic and Republican 2024 presidential candidates are trying to tackle politics’ longtime third rail: Social Security.
Calling for reform of any kind for their struggling retirement benefits program can be tricky for politicians, as they risk upsetting a major swath of voters. As a result, leaders from both sides of the aisle often promise to simply leave the entitlement program alone.
However, the crowded field of 2024 White House hopefuls have a bevy of ideas to save the struggling retirement benefits program. Their proposals generally fall into one of two categories – raise taxes or reduce benefits.
A majority of Americans, 79%, oppose cutting benefits, according to an April poll by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs research. And 75% said they were against raising Social Security’s eligibility age from 67 to 70.
That opposition hasn't stopped several presidential candidates from jumping into the debate, as Social Security's dwindling funds are projected to run out within the decade.
What have the candidates said about the program? Here's what you need to know.
Trump, Biden pledge to keep Social Security alive
Before he was president, Donald Trump called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” and backed privatizing the program in his coauthored 2000 book “The America We Deserve.” He also supported raising the retirement age to 70.
As Trump seeks a second term, the Republican front-runner has promised to “always protect” Social Security, according to his campaign website.
“We’re not going to hurt the people who’ve been paying into Social Security their whole life and then all of a sudden they’re supposed to get less,” Trump said in a Feb. 2016 debate during his first presidential campaign.
And in a Truth Social post in January, the former president wrote, “Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security.”
As president, Trump supported eliminating the payroll tax, Social Security’s main funding. He argued the program could be protected, though, through an alternate source, such as the general fund of government revenues.
Meanwhile, Trump’s top Democratic rival President Joe Biden has also promised to save the program from cuts, even getting hard-line Republicans in Congress to seemingly agree.
During his State of the Union address this year, Biden remarked that “some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset.” In response, GOP lawmakers, including Georgia’s Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, booed and heckled the president.
“OK, so we all apparently agree ... Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right?” Biden said later in his address, to which members of Congress on both sides of the aisle cheered.
Along with promising to veto any legislation with cuts to Social Security, the president proposed increasing entitlement program funds through additional taxes on wealthy Americans.
Trump's Republican challengers offer Social Security solutions
Other Republican presidential candidates have also addressed the issue on the campaign trail, including during the third and most recent GOP debate last month.
Two 2024 contenders, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, each said they would support raising the retirement age for Social Security benefits. Neither would give a specific number.
In July, Christie told USA TODAY Social Security is one of “three enormous issues for the country's future.”
“Social Security is part of the compact that we've had with people now for nearly a hundred years that you contribute into this fund and there will be payments there for you in your retirement to make sure that you can live a retirement life that is comfortable,” Christie said at the time.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis opposed Christie and Haley's approach on the debate stage, saying instead he would solve Social Security's funding problems through economic growth, specifically addressing inflation.
DeSantis has said he would not cut benefits for seniors currently on Social Security but signaled his openness to reducing the program for younger Americans.
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy laid out his plan to fund Social Security with heavy reduction measures, including eliminating government agencies and cutting the number of federal employees by 75%.
“We’re working within the last window I believe we will have to actually fix this problem while still leaving Social Security and Medicare benefits for current seniors intact,” Ramaswamy said at the debate.
2024 underdogs weigh in on Social Security
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who did not qualify for the second or third GOP primary debates, has said his administration would follow in the footsteps of former President Ronald Reagan by creating a commission to make recommendations to Congress on the future of Social Security.
“There’s a lot of ideas that are out there, and all those ideas will be on the table,” Hutchinson said in October during a New Hampshire town hall sponsored by the USA TODAY Network.
The former governor has also said he would do away with a current penalty for people ages 62 to 66 who take Social Security while still working.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who has since dropped out of the race, had made economic growth a pillar of his campaign and his proposed solution to Social Security. During a New Hampshire town hall in July, Burgum – like DeSantis – pointed to inflation while talking to voters about the program's rocky future.
The governor also proposed reducing federal spending in order to make more funds available for Social Security.
"When we reduce the cost of government, we don't have to raise taxes," Burgum said. "It's just like any business, it's not like we have to keep raising taxes to fix a problem over here. No, you can run things more efficiently and fix the problem."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Here's where the 2024 presidential candidates stand on Social Security
