Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is widely expected to soon enter the 2024 presidential race, twice this week said that current President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump’s views on entitlement reform are essentially the same.
“Sadly, my former running mate’s policy is identical to Joe Biden’s, and other Republicans are walking away from a commitment to entitlement reform,” Pence said on Fox Business on Thursday, echoing comments he made earlier this week when speaking to reporters after speaking at a conservative think tank event in Concord, N.H.
“The truth is, President Joe Biden’s policy is insolvency. He said we’re not even going to talk about Social Security and Medicare reform. And frankly, my former running mate’s policy is exactly the same,” Pence said, as posted on Fox News Digital on May 16. “I think they’re both wrong. I think the American people deserve the truth. They deserve to know that these programs will run out of money in the next 5 or 10 years, necessitating automatic cuts.”
The Social Security Board of Trustees annual report released at the end of March revealed that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI) trust fund, which currently pays benefits to about 57 million Americans, will become depleted by 2033 unless changes are made.
“President Joe Biden’s policy is insolvency. He said we’re not even going to talk about Social Security and Medicare reform. And frankly, my former running mate’s policy is exactly the same.”
Mike Pence
While Biden, Trump and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) have all said this year cuts to Social Security should be off the table for the time being, Pence and some other Republican leaders are pushing to bring reforms back on the negotiating table. Senators Rick Scott (R-FL), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) have all suggested radical changes are needed for Social Security and Medicare.
On the House side, the Republican Study Committee (of which two-thirds of House Republicans are members) in 2022 published a comprehensive plan to balance the budget in seven years and then begin paying down the national debt. The plan included $729 billion in spending reductions for Social Security and $2.8 trillion in reductions for Medicare over the next 10 years.
Specifically relating to Social Security, the plan call for raising the normal retirement age from 67 to 70 by 2040 while increasing benefits for workers with lower incomes and reducing the benefits received by middle- and upper-income workers. Finally, the plan calls for allowing all workers to divert a portion of their payroll taxes to private retirement options.
In his comments Thursday, Pence lamented the Trump administration’s inability to control spending. “We could’ve begun a national debate for dealing with the real driver of our national debt which is 70% of our federal budget as you know, which is entitlements,” Pence said.
Pence added that potential cuts to Social Security and Medicare would be “compassionate solutions,” and that his proposals would not change benefits to anyone retiring in the next 25 years. But for those under 40, Pence said they would need to be subject to “common sense reforms” and “personal savings accounts” such as those outlined in the RSC plan.
Pence appears close to announcing a bid for the White House, while most polls have him a distant third among Republican candidates, trailing Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to formally announce his candidacy next week.
For his part, DeSantis has supported making cuts to Social Security in the past, something Washington Post Columnist Henry Olsen wrote about in an opinion piece this week that noted how Trump is attacking DeSantis for that position.
“Trump is taking the typical path of politicians by calling for no spending cuts in either program. His super PAC has also lashed out at DeSantis in television ads for his past backing of proposals to cut Social Security and Medicare spending and to raise the full retirement age from 67 to 70,” Olsen wrote. “Those ads might exaggerate, but DeSantis did support then-Wisconsin Rep. Paul D. Ryan’s proposals to reform these programs when the governor was in Congress. He also backed more stringent cost-saving ideas advanced by the House Republican Study Committee.”
SEE ALSO:
• 3 Proposals to ‘Fix’ Social Security
• Biden State of the Union Moment: Bipartisan Agreement on No Cuts to Social Security and Medicare?
• McCarthy Takes Social Security Cuts Off the Table in Debt Ceiling Debate
• Debt Limit Standoff: Are Social Security Benefits at Risk?