Let’s Celebrate Social Security’s 89th Birthday By Protecting and Expanding It

On August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security into law. Eighty-nine years later, our Social Security system is at a crossroads. Even as we rightfully celebrate the widespread, enduring popularity and success of Social Security, it is imperative we recognize the threat aimed at our earned benefits by Republican politicians.

If the Trump-Vance ticket prevails this November, former U.S. President Donald Trump will continue his long track record of trying to cut and dismantle Social Security. Don’t be fooled by his rhetoric to the contrary. When Trump was president, he proposed cuts to Social Security in every one of his budgets.

When Trump couldn’t get the cuts enacted, he employed the old tactic of “starve the beast.” Figuring that tax cuts are easier to enact than benefit cuts, he sought to hold a Covid-19 relief package hostage to Congress agreeing to cut Social Security’s dedicated revenue. When that failed, he grabbed the questionable power to go after its dedicated revenue unilaterally—something without precedent. Because Trump was limited to executive action, he was able to only defer the revenue, but he made clear that he would not just defer the revenue, but eliminate it, if he were reelected. Insufficient dedicated revenue leads to automatic cuts. Conveniently, automatic cuts means there is no one to clearly be held accountable.

Republican politicians are ignoring the will of their own voters in favor of protecting their wealthy donors.

If Trump wins again, he will be even worse. Imagine Donald Trump as president, paired with a Republican Congress dominated by Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) vision of a fiscal commission to cut Social Security behind closed doors and the Republican Study Committee’s plans to cut Social Security by $1.5 trillion over just the next decade and trillions more after that (including raising the retirement age). That would be a nightmare scenario for Social Security and the millions of Americans and their families who rely on their earned Social Security benefits.

And it is just as important to recognize the immense opportunity that is available to make Social Security even better going forward.

As a Senator, Vice President Kamala Harris cosponsored legislation protecting and expanding Social Security. And her fantastic running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, shares her commitment to Social Security. When he was in Congress he too cosponsored legislation to protect and expand Social Security.

He understands, from first-hand experience, just how important Social Security is. Here’s what he said in 2010:

As a young man watching my father die of a lengthy illness and a nine-year-old brother at home and a stay-at-home mother watching Social Security survivor benefits be there to allow my little brother to go on and go to college and my mother to go back in the workforce. Many people will say and they are absolutely right, “Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.” They were right of that. We just didn’t have any boots. They were loaned to us by Social Security. And for that we have paid that back ten times over. Our family is stronger, our community is stronger, our country is stronger.

Both Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz recognize that Social Security is the most secure, efficient, and important source of retirement income for the vast majority of Americans. But its benefits are inadequately low.

With the disappearance of traditional private-sector retirement plans, our nation is facing a retirement income crisis. Too many Americans fear that they must work until they die, because they will not be able to retire without a drastic decline in their standard of living. The solution is to expand Social Security.

Both Vice President Harris and Governor Walz understand this reality, and will fight to expand Social Security. They want to require multimillionaires and billionaires to start paying their fair share.

In stark contrast, Trump and his Republican allies in Congress support cutting Social Security and ultimately ending the program as we know it. This is laid out in the budget proposal from the Republican Study Committee (RSC), a group that counts about 80% of House Republicans as members. And rather than require the wealthy to pay more, they want to give huge tax breaks to the uber-wealthy. Republican politicians are ignoring the will of their own voters in favor of protecting their wealthy donors.

In this election year, voters should celebrate Social Security’s 89th birthday by supporting the party that is working to expand, not cut, their earned benefits.