Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
2020 presidential candidates on Social Security
 Donald Trump Joe Biden Howie Hawkins Jo Jorgensen |
This page includes statements from the 2020 presidential candidates on Social Security. These statements were compiled from each candidate's official campaign website, editorials, speeches, and interviews. Click the following links for policy statements about related issues: the economy, minimum wage, paid leave, and taxes.
The candidates featured on this page are the 2020 presidential nominees from the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Green parties.
Donald Trump Joe Biden Howie Hawkins Jo Jorgensen
Social Security
Republican candidates
Donald Trump
Donald Trump tweeted, "Democrats are going to destroy your Social Security. I have totally left it alone, as promised, and will save it!" [source, as of 2020-01-23]
Mark Sanford
Mark Sanford's campaign website does not include a position on Social Security.
His website says, "I believe government spends too much. America was founded on the notion of liberty, and we were indeed promised life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Through the ages, there has always been a tension between government’s growth and freedom itself. Jefferson considered it a battle line wherein as one grew, the other declined, and vice versa – and he warned that the normal course of things was for government to gain ground and for liberty to yield. Holding governments growth back is not about the spending ultimately, but rather about preserving our incredibly fragile gift of liberty." [source, as of 2019-09-10]
Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh's campaign website does not include a statement outlining his position on Social Security. [source, as of 2019-08-30]
Bill Weld
Bill Weld said in a speech, "In fairness to millennials, who may never receive the benefits of Social Security, the government should permit the establishment of individual retirement accounts." He also said in an interview, "Millennials are smart enough to know they’re never going to see Social Security if we keep running a $1 trillion deficit." [source, as of 2019-02-15]
Democratic candidates
Joe Biden
Joe Biden says, "Social Security is the bedrock of American retirement."
Biden's campaign website lists the following proposals it says will make the program solvent and prevent cuts: "The Biden Plan will put the program on a path to long-term solvency by asking Americans with especially high wages to pay the same taxes on those earnings that middle-class families pay. Preserve the nature of Social Security. Social Security is one of our nation’s great public policy successes, in large part due to the fact that participation in the program is shared across almost all workers. Provide a higher benefit for the oldest Americans. Implement a true minimum benefit for lifelong workers. Protect widows and widowers from steep cuts in benefits. Eliminate penalties for teachers and other public-sector workers." [source, as of 2019-08-20]
Michael Bloomberg
Mike Bloomberg's campaign website does not include a statement on Social Security.
His website includes the following statement on the economy, "As an entrepreneur, Mike created an information technology start-up that grew into a global business. As mayor, he diversified New York City’s economy and led its comeback after the 9/11 attacks. When the Great Recession struck in 2008, Mike had prepared the city, which recovered faster and stronger than the country overall. As president, Mike will work to strengthen the middle class, invest in education, create good-paying jobs in renewable energy and other industries with a bright future, and open the door of opportunity to every American." [source, as of 2019-12-11]
Cory Booker
In an interview with Iowa Public Television, Booker said, "Why is it that your Social Security taxes over your lifetime, if you're making $75,000 a year, are the the exact same as someone who makes $10 million a year? That's what we call a regressive tax. So it's common sense to say if you're making $10 million a year, $50 million a year that you're going to pay more in Social Security taxes. If we do that, I'm an original sponsor of a bill just to do that, we would, we would, Social Security would be secure going into generations in the future and we could raise Social Security payments for those people right now that are struggling." [source, as of 2019-07-15]
Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg tweeted, "84 years ago today, we recognized that when we care for seniors and Americans who've lost their jobs, it provides all of us with greater security. As President, I’ll protect Social Security—not just as a lifeline for millions but as a national inheritance for future generations." [source, as of 2019-08-14]
Julián Castro
Julián Castro's campaign website does not include a position on Social Security.
Some of the economic policies listed on Castro's website include: "Replace the estate tax and gift tax with a unified inheritance gift tax. Establish a Wealth Inequality Tax. Repeal the Trump tax bill. Expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to provide $3,000 per child for every family, ensuring the credit is fully refundable. Expand and Reform the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Guarantee at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. Establish a national paid sick leave standard of at least 7 days a year. Enact universal child care for families through federal grants for local, county, state, and tribal governments. I’m proposing Pre-K 4 USA: an extension of public school education to include all 3-and-4 year olds in America in high quality, full day pre-K, supported through federal partnerships with state and local governments. Invest in housing affordability. Ensure quality educational opportunity for all." [source, as of 2019-08-28]
Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard's campaign website says, "We need to reinvest in and expand our two major Social Security programs, Old-Age, Survivors, Insurance and Disability Insurance. Primarily, my administration will ensure Social Security's solvency by taking the trillions of tax dollars now spent on military spending and tax giveaways to the wealthiest American families and corporations and reinvesting them in these two Social Security programs." [source, as of 2019-09-26]
Kamala D. Harris
Kamala Harris said in a press release, "We need to expand Social Security and provide our seniors and other beneficiaries of this vital program with greater dignity and peace of mind.”
The press release said she supported a bill that "would ensure that Social Security could pay every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 52 years, according to the retirement system’s chief actuary. It would extend the program’s solvency by making the wealthiest 1.8 percent of Americans – those with incomes of more than $250,000 a year – pay the same rate into the retirement system as everyone else already pays. Current law caps the amount of income subject to payroll taxes at $132,900." [source, as of 2019-02-13]
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Klobuchar's campaign published a plan for seniors online that says, "Social Security has served as a stable and secure retirement guarantee for generations of Americans. Senator Klobuchar believes that this program must remain solvent for generations to come and she will fight against risky schemes to privatize it. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to lift the Social Security payroll cap. Currently the payroll tax only applies to wages up to $133,000. Senator Klobuchar supports subjecting income above $250,000 to the payroll tax and extending the solvency of Social Security. And Senator Klobuchar will make sure people are treated fairly by the current Social Security system. As President, she will work to strengthen and improve Social Security benefits for widows and people who took significant time out of the paid workforce to care for their children, aging parents, or sick family members." [source, as of 2019-07-12]
Beto O'Rourke
Beto O'Rourke's campaign website says he "will make strengthening and protecting social security a top priority."
O'Rourke's plan for social security proposes: "Signing into law a bill he cosponsored as a member of Congress called the Social Security 2100 Act. This bill: Increases benefits, cuts taxes on benefits, and updates the formula used to calculate annual cost-of-living adjustments, accounting for how much seniors spend on health care and other necessities. Guarantees the viability of Social Security well into the next century by, for example, ensuring that millionaires and billionaires no longer pay proportionately less in Social Security taxes than truck drivers and nurses. Ensuring social security works for today’s families by: Tackling the penalty for caregiving in Social Security benefits, which disproportionately undermines the retirement security of women—and women of color—by reducing their benefit levels. Ensuring two worker couples, particularly same-sex couples, get fair survivor benefits. Allowing college students to receive their parents’ benefits when both parents pass." [source, as of 2019-08-27]
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders campaign website says, "At a time when about half of American households over the age of 55 have no retirement savings and one out of five seniors are trying to live on less than $13,500 a year, our job is not to cut Social Security. Our job is to expand Social Security so that everyone in this country can retire with the dignity they have earned and everyone with a disability can live with the security they need."
It says he would apply the payroll tax to all income up to $250,000 to achieve four goals: "Make sure that Social Security will pay every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 52 years." "Expand benefits across-the-board including a $1,300 a year benefit increase for seniors with incomes of $16,000 a year or less." "Lift millions of seniors out of poverty by increasing the minimum benefits paid to low-income workers when they retire." "Increase cost-of-living adjustments to keep up with the rising cost of health care and prescription drugs by establishing a Consumer Price Index for the Elderly." [source, as of 2019-08-23]
Thomas Steyer
Tom Steyer's campaign website does not include a position on Social Security.
His website says more generally, "No one should be forced to work more than one full-time job just to survive, and no one should see their raise eaten up by the rising cost of living. Universal health care must be a right — not a privilege — so everyone has the chance to live a healthy life, and our government needs to act to protect the foundations of our health." [source, as of 2019-09-10]
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren wrote in a Medium post that her plan for Social Security, "Increases Social Security benefits immediately by $200 a month –– $2,400 a year –– for every current and future Social Security beneficiary in America. Updates outdated rules to further increase benefits for lower-income families, women, people with disabilities, public-sector workers, and people of color. Finances these changes and extends the solvency of Social Security by nearly two decades by asking the top 2% of families to contribute their fair share to the program."
She also wrote, "First, my plan imposes a 14.8% Social Security contribution requirement on individual wages above $250,000 –– affecting less than the top 2% of earners –– split equally between employees and employers at 7.4% each. Second, my plan establishes a new 14.8% Social Security contribution requirement on net investment income that applies only to the top 2% ––individuals making more than $250,000 in annual income or families making more than $400,000 in annual income." [source, as of 2019-09-12]
Andrew Yang
Andrew Yang's campaign website says, "Social Security is one of the greatest social programs in America. However, especially with the Baby Boomers reaching retirement age, there are constant worries of it becoming insolvent. There are also many Americans who receive Social Security benefits but in no way need it to live out a safe, secure, and comfortable retirement. The program should institute means testing to ensure fiscal solvency while still serving the needs of the millions of Americans who do rely on it for their income after leaving the workforce. As President, I will work with Congress to alter Social Security into a means-tested program where Americans with more post-retirement income receive lower benefits on a sliding scale. This would save billions a year and help ensure Social Security’s solvency for future generations." [source, as of 2019-08-29]
Green candidates
Howie Hawkins
Howie Hawkins' campaign website says, "We will double Social Security so every person of retirement age has a livable income. The Social Security system will become a true a national retirement system. Social Security benefits only replace about a third of a retiree’s average final wage, which is not enough to live on when it is your primary—and perhaps your only—source of retirement income. Doubling Social Security benefits could be paid for by lifting the ceiling on Social Security taxes for high-income earners, ending the deduction for business pension expenses, eliminating the home mortgage deduction, and closing tax loopholes for the rich." [source, as of 2020-07-09]
Libertarian candidates
Jo Jorgensen
Jo Jorgensen's campaign website says, "Do you trust politicians to keep their promises? I don't. They've spent every cent in the Social Security Trust Fund on other spending, leaving behind worthless IOU’s. Other countries have successfully replaced their government-run systems with individual retirement accounts safe from greedy politicians. As President, I would work to implement a solution like the Cato Institute’s '6.2% solution', which would allow any American the opportunity to 'opt out' of the current system while making the current system fiscally stable for those who choose to remain.” [source, as of 2020-07-28]
Other policy pages
Criminal justice
Economy
- 2020 presidential candidates on coronavirus recovery
- 2020 presidential candidates on the economy
- 2020 presidential candidates on Social Security
- 2020 presidential candidates on the minimum wage
- 2020 presidential candidates on paid leave
- 2020 presidential candidates on taxes
Education
- 2020 presidential candidates on education
- 2020 presidential candidates on student loan debt
- 2020 presidential candidates on charter schools and voucher programs
Energy and environmental issues
- 2020 presidential candidates on energy and environmental issues
- 2020 presidential candidates on climate change
- 2020 presidential candidates on the Green New Deal
Foreign policy
- 2020 presidential candidates on foreign policy
- 2020 presidential candidates on China
- 2020 presidential candidates on Russia
- 2020 presidential candidates on North Korea
- 2020 presidential candidates on the Middle East and North Africa
- 2020 presidential candidates on South and Central America
Gun regulation
Healthcare
- 2020 presidential candidates on healthcare
- 2020 presidential candidates on the Affordable Care Act
- 2020 presidential candidates on Medicare for All
- 2020 presidential candidates on prescription drugs costs
Immigration
- 2020 presidential candidates on immigration
- 2020 presidential candidates on border security
- 2020 presidential candidates on DACA and Dreamers
- 2020 presidential candidates on immigration enforcement
Impeachment
Labor
- 2020 presidential candidates on labor policy
- 2020 presidential candidates on Janus v. AFSCME
- 2020 presidential candidates on public-sector unions
- 2020 presidential candidates on unionization and organization
- 2020 presidential candidates on the right to strike
Trade
Footnotes
