Clinton, Trump Campaigns Turn Social Security Politics On Its Head

Progressives are pressing their advantage after changing the conversation from cutting Social Security benefits to expanding them.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton greets a supporter after walking off of her campaign plane at Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport on September 8, 2016 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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By Sahil Kapur

September 9, 2016 at 9:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump's opposition to any benefit cuts in the Social Security retirement program have turned Washington's politics of deficit reduction upside down.

Social Security reductions had long been the key building block deployed by fiscal hawks with plans to curb the federal budget deficit. Indeed, they were a central feature of the failed "grand bargain" talks in 2011 between President Barack Obama and top Republicans. And as recently as the 2012 election, Obama remained open to such a compromise while GOP nominee Mitt Romney campaigned on raising the program's eligibility age and cutting benefits for upper-income retirees.