WaPo Fact Checker Analysis : Sanders vs. Biden on Social Security: A guide to the claims

[Celerity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/08/sanders-versus-biden-social-security-guide-claims/

“Joe Biden claims in a new ad that he has always protected Social Security. That’s patently false. He can’t hide 40 years of working with Republicans to cut Social Security.”

— Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), in a Twitter thread, March 7, 2020

Now that the Democratic primary race has narrowed to Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden, Sanders has begun attacking Biden for supposedly wanting to cut Social Security. Biden cried foul in a new ad. In a Twitter thread, the Sanders campaign highlighted comments or votes by Biden dating back almost four decades.

Regular readers of The Fact Checker know we often warn about campaign attacks highlighting certain votes or comments that are so old they often lack context. Overall, Sanders offers a misleading portrayal. So here’s a guide to these statements.

“In 1983, Biden pushed to raise the Social Security retirement age.”

Sanders cites a newspaper clip from Jan. 11, 1983, that says, “Biden suggested a gradual increase in the retirement age would help improve the Social Security system.” This was not a controversial position at the time. Two months after these comments, large bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate agreed to the Social Security amendments of 1983, which included raising the retirement age to 67 and increasing payroll taxes to improve the solvency of the program.

The broad outlines of the plan was recommended by the National Commission on Social Security Reform and is believed to have strengthened the long-term health of Social Security. Sanders, in 1999, praised the 1983 law an example of bipartisan cooperation. “We should remember that in 1982, Social Security was within a few months — a few months — of not being able to pay out all benefits owed to Americans,” Sanders said. “And then people came together and said of course we want to save Social Security. They worked together, and they did.”

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