In Minnesota, Haley makes push ahead of Super Tuesday
Nikki Haley’s campaign reported over 1,500 attendees filled the space at this rally in Bloomington, Minnesota, on February 26, 2024.
The claim: Nikki Haley plan cuts Social Security benefits for 82% of Americans
A Facebook ad distributed to more than 1 million screens from Feb. 16-24 attacks Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley for her purported plans to reform entitlement programs.
“Americans were promised a secured retirement,” says a narrator in the ad from former President Donald Trump’s campaign. “Nikki Haley’s plan ends that.”
The video then shows Haley responding to a news anchor’s question about how she would manage entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
“We say the rules have changed,” says Haley. “We change retirement age to reflect life expectancy. What we do know is 65 is way too low, and we need to increase that.”
The narrator then says, “Haley’s plan cuts Social Security benefits for 82% of Americans. Trump will never let that happen.”
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Our rating: False
The ad distorts Haley’s comments. She spoke about raising the retirement age for workers now in their 20s, not for people nearing or in retirement. There is no evidence her plan would cut benefits for 82% of Americans. Haley’s campaign said the claim is false.
Haley’s plan would raise retirement age for younger generations
The ad shows clips of Haley talking to Bloomberg Television on Aug. 24, 2023, but it omits the part of her answer that makes clear she was talking about raising the retirement age only for younger workers.
“Social Security is going to go bankrupt in 10 years. Medicare is going to go bankrupt in eight,” she said. “So the way we deal with it is – we don’t touch anyone’s retirement or anyone who’s been promised in, but – we go to people like my kids in their 20s when they’re coming into the system, and we say the rules have changed.”
Haley proposed changing the retirement age to reflect life expectancy, though she said she didn’t know yet what the right age would be.
“We’ve got to figure out what it is,” she said. “But what we do know is 65 is way too low, and we need to increase that.”
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People born in 1960 or later can begin receiving their full retirement benefit at 67, according to the Social Security Administration. The full retirement age was 66 for people born from 1943 to 1954. The full retirement age increases gradually to 67 for people born from 1955 to 1960. The retirement age was 65 for people born in 1937 or earlier. It gradually increased in two-month increments for people born between 1938 and 1943.
The ad says Haley’s plan would cut Social Security benefits for 82% of Americans, but it’s unclear how that figure was reached. The ad cites “CNN 3/12/23” as its source, but two CNN articles on the topic carrying that date − both of which report Haley’s proposal to change the retirement age for people currently in their 20s − do not include the 82% number or otherwise support the claim.
Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, said the 82% figure is likely referring to the total number of Americans eligible for Social Security presently or in the future.
There are no credible news reports or economic analyses to support the 82% figure mentioned in the ad.
AnnMarie Graham-Barnes, a Haley spokesperson, also dismissed the ad’s claim as false.
“We can’t fact check Donald Trump’s lies because they’re… lies,” Graham-Barnes said in an email.
Haley’s plan, she said, would raise the retirement age for younger generations and index benefits to life expectancy, limit the growth of benefits for higher-income beneficiaries, expand Medicare Advantage Plans and match cost-of-living increases for Social Security to inflation rates by using the chained Consumer Price Index.
The plan “does not take away from people nearing retirement or in retirement,” Graham-Barnes said.
The spokesperson did not provide a possible new retirement age under the plan.
PolitiFact, which also debunked the claim, used U.S. Census data to calculate that if people 25 years or older were excluded from a retirement age increase, the plan “would likely reduce benefits for 26% of Americans alive today – decades from now.”
Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Our fact-check sources:
- AnnMarie Graham-Barnes, Feb. 29, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Garrett Watson, March 3, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- CNN, updated March 12, 2023, Nikki Haley calls for changing retirement age for Americans who are now in their 20s
- CNN, March 12, 2023, Opinion: Nikki Haley touches ‘third rail’
- Bloomberg Television, Aug. 24, 2023, Haley Says 65 Is ‘Way Too Low’ for Retirement Age
- Social Security Administration, accessed March 1, Normal Retirement Age
- Social Security Administration, 2024, Understanding the Benefits
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