During Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, candidates for the 2024 nomination addressed whether they would make any reforms to Social Security, including if they would raise the age of retirement.
Social Security remains a major issue to many Americans. A study from the Senior Citizens League released earlier this year found inflation has caused Social Security payments to lose 36 percent of their buying power since 2000. The rise in the cost of medicine has also become a common theme during the 2024 presidential race, as many people relying on Social Security struggle to pay for their medical needs.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie advocated for raising the retirement age for those currently in their 30s or 40s, saying that they should be able to adjust to a retirement age increased by a few years.
Christie said he supports eliminating eligibility for wealthy people to collect Social Security. He specifically called out billionaire Warren Buffett, although he acknowledged he wasn’t certain that Buffet collects the benefit. He also rejected the idea of raising taxes to pay for the program.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, flanked by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, right, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, left, are pictured Wednesday night at the third GOP presidential primary in Miami, Florida. Among the topics discussed, the five presidential candidates addressed how they would handle Social Security. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
“Any candidate that tells you they’re not going to take on entitlements is not being serious,” former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said during the debate.
Haley urged people to accept reality, claiming Social Security will go bankrupt in 10 years if nothing changes. She advocated for keeping promises to those who are nearing retirement age and raising the age for younger people—including her own children—who are in their 20s. She added that payments need to better reflect life expectancy.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott said his main focus in handling Social Security would be growing the economy.
“If we’re going to actually tame this tiger, the way you do it is not by picking on seniors who paid into a program that deserved their money coming back out to them,” Scott said.
He then described a plan of creating 10 million new jobs to grow the economy by 5 percent. Scott said this would “add trillions of dollars of economic activity and billions of dollars to the Treasury.”
Scott also said that he would not raise the age of retirement.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis began his comments on the topic by joking that as the leader of Florida, he knows “a few people on Social Security, and I know it’s important.”
He then said he would tackle inflation and force Congress to stop borrowing money from the program.
As for raising the retirement age, DeSantis said doing so made little sense because life expectancy in the United States is declining.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy took a different approach than the other candidates. Instead of changing the system, he pushed for eliminating funding for foreign wars and changing how the government budgets. He called for a 75 percent reduction in government employees.
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