Statements by President Trump and top Democratic presidential candidates in recent days have thrust Social Security into the middle of the 2020 campaign, revealing tensions within both political parties over government spending and a program that pays monthly benefits to nearly 70 million people. Trump appeared to express a new openness to revamping entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare in an interview aired Wednesday morning, potentially opening the door to overhauling two of the country’s largest government programs if he is elected to a second term.
Washington Post
Speaking with CNBC from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said tackling entitlement spending is “the easiest of all things” and seemed to suggest higher economic growth would make it simpler to cut spending on those programs. Those comments come amid a heated debate in the Democratic presidential primary over former vice president Joe Biden’s record on Social Security, just days before the Iowa caucuses.