John,

Let’s be clear about something from the start: Joe Biden is currently running for President on a proposal to modestly expand Social Security, and not cut it. That’s good.

But Vice President Biden’s record on Social Security isn’t as clear―and he has given us cause for concern over the years.

Social Security Works has led the fight against cuts to our earned benefits since the beginning of the Obama-Biden administration. And we’re going to lead the fight to expand, never cut Social Security no matter who the next president is.

Donate today to power our movement to expand, protect, and never cut, Social Security.

From Social Security’s enactment in 1935 until the 1970s, the Democratic Party pushed to expand Social Security. But something happened: a campaign orchestrated by a small number of extremely wealthy and well-connected individuals gradually convinced the media, the public and too many members of the Democratic Party, that Social Security was somehow unaffordable and must be cut.

Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth.

This nonsense―you could even call it ‘malarky’―convinced too many mainstream Democratic politicians that Social Security could only be “saved” by secretly producing a bipartisan package of benefit cuts and revenue increases. This is the same logic of looking at dollars spent, rather than lives improved, that has powered the Trump administration’s attacks on Medicare and Medicaid―and it’s dead wrong.

One of the mainstream Democratic politicians sucked in by this lie was Joe Biden. We wish Biden had stood up and called this disingenuous attack on our Social Security benefits “a bunch of malarkey!”

But he didn’t.

As recently as 2018, Biden said that Social Security “needs adjustments, but it can stay!”¹ While we appreciate that Biden doesn’t plan to do away with Social Security altogether, I cannot find a way to read that quote and come away with a belief that Biden is committed to expanding Social Security.

You see, efforts to cut Social Security have always been discussed in coded language about the need to “fix,” or “save” Social Security precisely because our Social Security system is so popular and vital.

Opponents of Social Security even came up with a new term for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid so that they wouldn’t have to say that they would cut them. Instead, they say they will “reform entitlements.”

The record shows that Biden has a 40-year history of being open to Social Security cuts, including raising the retirement age, reducing cost-of-living adjustments, and, worst of all, means-testing, which would convert Social Security from an earned social insurance benefit to welfare. That would not just cut Social Security, but destroy it.

Biden’s record shows that in the past, he did not understand when to hold firm when cuts to Social Security were proposed—and that raises the question of whether he knows when to do so in the future.

Biden frequently speaks about his desire to work with Congressional Republicans, and says he believes Mitch McConnell will be “mildly cooperative” with Democrats after Trump leaves office. But do you know what McConnell wants to work on with the next Democratic President? Cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Here’s our concern: that a President Biden could trade our economic security for a bipartisan solution to an imagined problem that calls for cuts to Social Security.

Stand with us. Donate to Social Security Works today to make sure our elected leaders always fight to expand, never cut, Social Security.

Thank you for fighting for the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Linda Benesch
Social Security Works