For only the second time in our history, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare is endorsing a candidate for President of the United States. And for the second time, that candidate is Joe Biden. We broke precedent in 2020 because we believed Joe Biden would fight for America’s seniors — and protect Social Security and Medicare. We did not trust Donald Trump to safeguard either program or to uphold other cherished American institutions. Four years later, those beliefs have been validated beyond dispute.
President Biden has stood strong time and again in the face of Republican proposals to slash seniors’ earned benefits — from raising the retirement age to reducing COLAs. He consistently has promised that “if anyone tries to cut Social Security and Medicare, I will stop them.” We saw this when, during the President’s 2023 State of the Union address, he convinced Republicans in real time to “take Social Security and Medicare off the table” in debt ceiling negotiations.
The President has also proposed commonsense solutions to Social Security and Medicare’s financing challenges. He urged Congress to strengthen Social Security by requiring wealthier Americans to begin paying their fair share into the system. His 2025 budget proposal included a plan to improve Medicare’s finances — again demanding that higher earners make a more equitable contribution.
President Biden’s historic Inflation Reduction Act will save Medicare billions of dollars while at the same time lowering prescription drug prices for seniors. With the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare now can negotiate the cost of life-saving drugs with Big Pharma. We and other advocates fought for more than 20 years to make that a reality. But it wouldn’t have happened without President Biden — not to mention the law’s $35 monthly cap on insulin prices, $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on beneficiaries’ prescription drug costs, and penalties for drugmakers who hike prices above the rate of inflation. We also applaud the Biden administration for promulgating safe staffing standards to protect nursing home residents and workers — and for cracking down on Medicare Advantage plans that put profits ahead of patients.
As in 2020, our endorsement also is based on our grave concerns about Donald Trump. To put it simply, he cannot be trusted to protect Social Security and Medicare. He said he’s “open” to cutting “entitlements” and then tried to take it back. He has called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” in the past. He poses as a populist but ultimately does whatever his mega-wealthy GOP donors and Wall Street bankers want.
During his single term in office, Donald Trump proposed successive budgets that would have cut Social Security and Medicare by more than a trillion dollars. He suspended the Social Security payroll tax during the pandemic, needlessly interfering with the earned right nature of the benefit that has provided workers with financial security for nearly nine decades. He even said he wanted to do away with the payroll tax altogether – Social Security’s main funding source.
As one of the nation’s leading seniors’ advocacy groups, with millions of members and supporters across the United States, we have a responsibility to put our weight behind candidates for federal office with respect for American institutions and the programs we defend. The National Committee is engaged in robust election-year activities. Our PAC is endorsing candidates for Congress who strongly support Social Security and Medicare. Our leadership is traveling the country appearing with the candidates we endorse. We have been promoting our election year agenda on social media. Finally, we are launching a national voter education campaign entitled “Vote4SocialSecurity 2024,” which includes earned media, social media, digital and postcard mailings, and special episodes of our “You Earned This” podcast.
We believe that this is an existential election for Social Security and Medicare. Hard working Americans’ retirement and health security is at stake. Even though our organization has not traditionally endorsed presidential candidates, these past two cycles are obviously different. That is why we are proud to have chosen Joe Biden in 2020 — and are especially proud to endorse him once again in 2024. – Max Richtman, President and CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
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Media inquiries to:
Walter Gottlieb