Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump have vowed to protect Social Security as they accuse each other of wanting to cut the program for older Americans.
An ad from the pro-Trump political action committee noted DeSantis’ votes to raise the retirement age as a member of Congress, though he no longer holds that view.
A Newsmax The reporter asked DeSantis on May 5 to respond to the PAC’s attack and said Trump had a similar position.
“Donald Trump himself wrote a book where he talked about the need to raise the eligibility age for Social Security to 70 and said people shouldn’t worry about retirement, just keep working ” DeSantis said. “Those were his words.”
Today people can start receiving Social Security retirement benefits at age 62, but full benefits begin when these people turn 67.
When we looked at Trump’s book, we found that DeSantis was mostly right about Trump pushing to raise the age.
A spokesman for DeSantis pointed to CNN Article of April 27 which explained what Trump said in his book about Social Security. Trump spokespeople did not return calls for this fact-check.
Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency in November, while DeSantis could announce this summer.
Trump suggested raising the retirement age while considering a run for the presidency
Trump co-wrote the book”The America we deserve”, which was published in January 2000 when he was considering a run for the presidency as a candidate for the Reform Party. Weeks later, Trump said he would not run, declaring the Reform Party a “total mess.”
Fiscal responsibility was one of the book’s themes, and Trump warned that the Social Security trust fund would run out by 2030. (More than two decades later, the projected run-out date is 2034, barring the action of Congress).
“There is no Social Security trust fund like there is no tooth fairy,” Trump said he wrote. “The fund exists only as an accounting device.”
Trump said there was a way out by making changes to the program, such as allowing people to invest Social Security payments in real estate portfolios, stocks or bonds. He also said that older people should not be penalized if they want to continue working.
On raising the retirement age, Trump he wrote: “We can also raise the age to receive full Social Security benefits to seventy.”
He explained that the age limit will not affect the beneficiaries: “In this proposal there would be no one who is retired or who is about to retire. Do not put water skis back in the basement; it would be established for those who would retire well into the third or fourth decade of the 21st century. A firm age limit of seventy makes sense for those under forty. We are living longer. We are working longer. New medicines are extending healthy human life. Also, how many times will you want to take this trailer to the Grand Canyon?
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Trump changed his mind about raising the age during the 2016 campaign
When Trump ran for president in the 2016 race, he glossed over the retirement age.
In an August 2015 interview, Fox News’ Sean Hannity asked Trump about raising the retirement age. Trump replied, “No, I wouldn’t.”
During a Presidential debate of the Republican primaries in 2016, Trump said, “My absolute intention is to leave Social Security as it is. Not raise the age, and leave it as it is.”
In March 2023 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump appeared to allude to DeSantis’ old views on Social Security, saying, “We’re not going to go back to people who want to destroy our great Social Security system, even some of the our own party, I wonder. who could it be, who want to raise the minimum age for Social Security to 70, 75 or even 80 in some cases.”
When DeSantis was a U.S. representative, he voted a 2013 budget resolution that proposed raising the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare to 70. DeSantis had said he wanted the programs to be “financially sustainable” for younger generations. More than a decade later, and ahead of a possible GOP presidential primary, DeSantis returned to that position, telling Fox News in early March that he would not “screw up” entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Our verdict
DeSantis said, “Donald Trump himself wrote a book where he talked about the need to raise the eligibility age for Social Security to 70.”
Trump’s 2000 book said, “We can also raise the age to receive full Social Security benefits to seventy. This proposal would not include anyone who is currently retired or about to retire.”
Although in his book Trump proposed raising the age for full Social Security benefits to 70, that has not been his position for years. DeSantis also left out details about how Trump’s old proposal would work. We rate this statement as mostly true.
PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this fact check.
