The right to a secure and dignified retirement is one of the bedrock principles of American life. Before Social Security, almost half of American seniors lived in poverty. Even those who’d spent a lifetime working didn’t always have enough to put food on the table or health care they could count on. Democrats changed that: in 1935, we passed Social Security; in 1965, we signed Medicare and Medicaid into law. These are more than government programs – they’re a promise that we’ve made as a country, that after a lifetime of hard work, people deserve to retire with dignity and security. They’ve made tens of millions of lives better.
Trump and his MAGA allies are shredding that sacred trust, and saying they’ll cut Social Security to give billionaires another tax cut. Trump has called Social Security a “Ponzi Scheme” and warned “there’s a lot you can do in terms of cutting.” As President, he tried to slash both Social Security and Medicare programs in every budget, and to gut Medicaid, which provides home care to over seven million seniors and people with disabilities. House Republicans have vowed to cut Social Security by over $1.5 trillion, to raise the retirement age, and to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, threatening the program. Trump will also eliminate protections for private retirement savings, by undermining the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and making it easier for banks to rip off seniors with expensive, hidden fees.
Democrats won’t let that happen. Generations of Americans have paid into these programs, with every paycheck of their lives. We’ll never back down from our ironclad commitment to protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. We reject any effort to privatize Social Security or to cut any of the benefits that the American people have earned. Middle-class Americans pay 6.2 percent of their income to support Social Security, and the self-employed pay twice that. But people with multi-million dollar incomes pay a fraction of 1 percent. We’ll strengthen the program and expand benefits by asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share. We also oppose any actions to cut Medicare benefits. We’ll look to expand traditional Medicare coverage to include dental, vision, and hearing services, which are so key to health and quality of life, by making the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.
The fact is that both Social Security and Medicare are in a stronger fiscal position today than when President Biden took office. Our strong economic recovery has helped to extend Medicare solvency by a decade. And the President’s prescription drug reforms will save it hundreds of billions of dollars, by finally empowering Medicare to directly negotiate lower prices with drug companies, and to collect rebates if Big Pharma hikes prices faster than inflation. If Republicans repeal our reforms, they’ll erase those savings and put Medicare itself at risk. Democrats will make Medicare permanently solvent, by making the wealthy pay their fair share in Medicare taxes.
Democrats will stand firm to protect retirement security across the board. In 2021, we passed the Butch-Lewis Act, preserving the pensions of 3 million union workers and retirees who would’ve seen deep cuts, and reversing pension cuts for over 100,000 workers. Going forward, we’ll amend federal bankruptcy laws to make sure no other retirees ever run that same risk. The Administration is also cracking down on junk fees in retirement savings, and reversed a Trump-era rule that had allowed financial advisors to put their own interests before their clients’. Democrats want to make it easier for everyone to save for retirement and retire with dignity.
SPECIAL NOTE: The full platform for each party can be found on their respective websites. The following excerpts are unedited. Reader discretion is encouraged as these are political statements and have not been checked for accuracy. The Presidential Prayer Team is non-partisan and does not support or endorse any of the following statements.
