Biden’s Final Pitch: Inflation Is A Good Thing
White House takes credit for increase in Social Security payments, which are adjusted for inflation under law
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on health care costs, Medicare, and Social Security on September 27, 2022 (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Joseph Simonson • November 2, 2022 1:05 pm
With rising consumer prices on the top of voters’ minds just days from the November midterm elections, the White House is arguing that inflation is actually a good thing for America’s senior citizens.
On Tuesday evening, the White House said “seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden’s leadership.” The post from President Joe Biden takes credit for a boost to Social Security payments, around 8.7 percent for 2023, that occurred because Social Security payments must adjust to the approximate rate of inflation each year by law.
The White House’s claim was subsequently fact checked by Twitter—and deleted—but follows a recent pattern by both the president and his staff in which they assert Biden deserves credit for rising Social Security payments. Biden does not, nor does anyone in the White House, have any control over how much the program pays out.
A White House official told the Free Beacon that their tweet was deleted because “the point was incomplete.” The official also referred to an Oct. 12 statement from press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that said “seniors and other Americans on Social Security [sic] are will learn precisely how much their monthly checks will increase.”
“We will put more money in their pockets,” the statement said.
Not only does the White House have no control over the adjustments to Social Security payments, but more money leaving the Social Security Trust Fund means it will go bankrupt sooner, economists say.
“This isn’t a generous gift from the president, it’s an automatic reimbursement for a lot of the pain retirees have been feeling for the past year,” Manhattan Institute economist Brian Riedl told the Washington Free Beacon. “A generous cost-of-living adjustment could certainly move up the Social Security Trust Fund’s exhaustion day by a few years.”
Economists across the political spectrum agree that several of Biden’s spending programs, such as the nearly $2 trillion American Rescue Plan, contributed to today’s historically high inflation. Economists also fear his latest proposal, canceling up to $20,000 of student loans for millions, could drive consumer prices
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