Joe Biden: The Most Pro-Seniors President in Over Half a Century

This week saw the launch of Seniors for Biden. The truth is that every senior should be a Senior for Biden. He has delivered for seniors in enormously consequential ways during his first term and will deliver even more if re-elected.

For years, politicians have talked about giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. Biden got it done. He took on Big Pharma and won. Thanks to Biden, out-of-pocket insulin costs have been capped at $35 per month, hearing aids are cheaper, and inhaler prices are lower.

He is an unwavering protector of Social Security and Medicare. In his 2023 State of the Union Address, Biden powerfully stood up to Republicans who want to cut Social Security and Medicare. Republicans were threatening to hold hostage an increase in the debt limit—legislation essential to avoid a worldwide economic crash—in exchange for benefit cuts. Biden stood strong and won.

In his 2024 State of the Union Address, Biden made it crystal clear that he would shut down any Republican attempts to create a closed-door commission to cut Social Security and Medicare: “If anyone here tries to cut Social Security or Medicare or raise the retirement age, I will stop them.”

In stark contrast, Donald Trump failed seniors perhaps more than any president in history.

But he’s gone further. Biden has endorsed Congressional efforts to expand both Social Security and Medicare, and he supports paying for those expansions by requiring billionaires and the uber-wealthy to pay their fair share.

Biden replaced the no-show Trump crony heading the Social Security Administration with a proven champion and leader who is successfully reducing wait times and backlogs, so that the American people can receive the first-class service they have paid for and deserve.

And that’s not all. The Biden-Harris administration has also proposed minimum staffing standards for nursing homes, worked to boost compensation and job quality for care workers, and fought to improve and expand care options. Moreover, the Biden-Harris administration has forced shady financial advisers to stop ripping off working people planning for retirement.

In stark contrast, Donald Trump failed seniors perhaps more than any president in history. Despite his rhetoric to the contrary, he championed, as president, policies extremely harmful for those who were retired and close to retirement. And if re-elected, Trump will continue to push those terrible policies.

Every single one of his budgets as president proposed deep cuts to Social Security. When he couldn’t enact those cuts, he borrowed from Grover Norquist’s playbook. The anti-tax ideologue famously remarked that he wanted to cut taxes and shrink government to the size where he could drown it in the bathtub.

Donald Trump claims he won’t cut benefits, but tells the truth from time to time.

Consistent with that goal, Trump unilaterally went after Social Security’s dedicated revenue, without which its modest benefits would be automatically cut. Because he was limited to executive action, he was able to only defer the revenue, but he made clear that he would not just defer the revenue, but eliminate it, if he were re-elected.

His goals have not changed. Donald Trump claims he won’t cut benefits, but tells the truth from time to time. Moreover, he is reportedly considering, once again, defunding Social Security, if he has the chance.

None of this should be a surprise. Before running for president, Trump trashed Social Security, calling it a Ponzi scheme. He supported privatizing Social Security and raising the retirement age, with the condescending remark, “how many times will you really want to take that trailer to the Grand Canyon?”

And he’s no better on Medicare or prescription drug prices. In 2012, Donald Trump praised proposals by former Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan that would have destroyed Medicare by turning it into a voucher program, forcing seniors to fend for themselves in a hostile market.

Moreover Trump has attacked the Inflation Reduction Act, the historic law that for the first time gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, capped insulin at $35 and more.

If elected again, Donald Trump will be surrounded by a Republican Party that is exceptionally eager to cut Social Security and Medicare. When three-fourths of all the Republicans in the House of Representatives support a budget that would cut Social Security by $1.5 trillion, in just the next decade and raise the retirement age to 69, it’s more important than ever for seniors to have someone in the White House who will shut that down.

The choice is stark: In a second term, Biden will fight to expand Social Security and Medicare... Trump will quietly work to cut Social Security and Medicare and give tax breaks to billionaires.

The Donald Trump who put Social Security arsonists like Mick Mulvaney in his Cabinet last time cannot be trusted to stop his Republican colleagues in Congress. Donald Trump’s hand-picked Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and later Chief of Staff, said on the record that he favors raising the retirement age to 70, among other cuts.

The current Republican Speaker of the House and top Trump ally, Mike Johnson, desperately wants to set up a closed-door commission to slash Social Security and Medicare. The Republican House Budget Committee Chair, Jodey Arrington, also wants to cut Social Security and Medicare behind closed doors.

Joe Biden has proven he will stand up to Republicans in Congress to protect Social Security and Medicare. As President, Donald Trump did their bidding and, if elected a second time, he would do it again.

The choice is stark: In a second term, Biden will fight to expand Social Security and Medicare. He will restore both institutions to long-range balance by requiring billionaires to pay their fair share. Trump will quietly work to cut Social Security and Medicare and give tax breaks to billionaires.

While the Biden-Harris administration’s record on senior issues is impeccable, Donald Trump’s return to the Presidency is an existential threat to our earned benefits. Social Security and Medicare are once again on the ballot, and the choice for seniors this November couldn’t be clearer.