Joe Biden Issues Social Security Warning

President Joe Biden has once again warned of the threat that Donald Trump would pose to Social Security if he wins back the White House.

Trump "was just one vote away from repealing the Affordable Care Act," Biden said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"Now, he's determined to try again, running to 'terminate' it—and cut Medicare and Social Security while he's at it. I won't let it happen."

When asked for comment, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told Newsweek on Sunday, "Crooked Joe Biden's cognitive decline must be getting worse because President Trump has consistently said he will not touch Social Security and Medicare."

Newsweek has contacted the Biden campaign for comment via email.

The future of Social Security, which faces a severe financial shortfall in the coming years, has become a top issue ahead of the 2024 election, set to be a rematch of the 2020 election between Biden and Trump.

The president's comments come after Trump appeared to suggest in an interview earlier this month that he was he was open to making cuts to Social Security and Medicare after previously being opposed to touching the programs that millions of Americans rely on for financial and medical support.

"There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements," he said on CNBC's Squawk Box in response to a question about Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

At a rally in Ohio days after that interview, Trump sought to walk back the comments.

"I made a promise that I will always keep Social Security, Medicare," he said, according to The Associated Press. "We always will keep it. We never will cut it."

He also claimed Social Security would be gone if Biden wins a second term, despite the president vowing to protect and strengthen the program.

Americans "will not be able to have Social Security" with Biden in office "because he's destroying the economics of our country," Trump said. "And that includes Medicare, by the way, and American seniors are going to be in big trouble."

During his State of the Union address earlier in March, Biden pledged to protect Social Security and Medicare after accusing Republicans of wanting to make cuts to the programs while giving tax breaks to the wealthy.

"Many of my friends on the other side of the aisle want to put Social Security on the chopping block," he said.

"If anyone here tries to cut Social Security of Medicare or raise the retirement age, I will stop you."

He added: "The working people who built this country pay more into Social Security than millionaires and billionaires do. It's not fair[...]I'll protect and strengthen Social Security and make the wealthy pay their fair share."

Update 3/24/24, 10:45 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to add comment from Cheung.