‘The Game Has Changed’: Nikki Haley Floats Raising Retirement Age to Save Entitlement Programs
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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is toying with the idea of raising the retirement age for younger Americans in order to preserve Social Security and Medicare benefits.
“The first thing you do is you change the retirement age of the young people coming up so that we can try and have some sort of system for them,” Haley said during a town hall debate in Council Bluffs, Iowa on Wednesday.
While it remains unclear what age would replace the current threshold of 65, Haley, the former American Ambassador to the United Nations under President Trump, did zero in on a specific cohort to bear the brunt of the reforms.
“It’s the new ones coming in. It’s those in their 20s that are coming in. You’re coming to them and you’re saying, the game has changed. We’re going to do this completely differently.”
Haley joins Senator Rick Scott (R., Fla.) in pushing for entitlement reform. Scott originally called for sunsetting funding for Social Security and Medicare every five years before reversing course amid public backlash, including from fellow Senate Republicans and leadership.
The former South Carolina governor argued that raising the retirement age is essential to its continued existence.
“It is unrealistic to say you’re not going to touch entitlements. The thing is you don’t have to touch it for seniors and anybody near retirement. You’re talking about the new generation, like my kids coming up,” Haley told Fox News.
Social Security and Medicare expenses are expected to balloon in the coming decades with the Congressional Budget Office estimating the two will cost American taxpayers $29 trillion over the coming decade. Absent any political action, by the next presidential term Medicare beneficiaries could experience a 10 percent cut and Social Security beneficiaries a 23 percent trim as the financials of the enterprise remain unsustainable.
However, many leading Republican figures have seemingly turned away from such rhetoric in recent weeks.
Speaking at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last weekend, former president Donald Trump, condemned Republicans wanting “to raise the minimum age of Social Security to 70,75, or even 80 in some cases.” Without naming any presidential hopefuls specifically, Trump added, these politicians “are out to cut Medicare to a level that it will no longer be recognizable.”
Similarly, Governor Ron DeSantis (R., Fl.) walked back his previous support for raising the retirement age as well as privatizing Social Security. “We’re not going to mess with Social Security as Republicans,” DeSantis told Fox News in early March. “I think that that’s pretty clear.”
Former vice president Mike Pence has fallen on Haley’s side of the fence, insisting that reforms to Social Security and Medicare must be “on the table” when it comes to the debt ceiling.
Haley further condemned President Joe Biden’s proposed 2024 budget which seeks to tax earners making more than $400,000 a year to support the funding of entitlement.
“Joe Biden now is basically saying the only way to deal with entitlements is to raise taxes. He doesn’t care that it runs out in five or ten years, he’s not going to be there anymore,” Haley added.
Haley also advocated for expanding Medicare Advantage plans, overseen by private healthcare providers, in a bid to increase market competition.
