Bernie Sanders’ campaign responded to claims Joe Biden made in an interview with a New Hampshire television station, further distorting his record on social security.
Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in a statement on Sunday that Biden was trying to hide his decades-long efforts to help Republicans cut social security.
“The facts are indisputable: Biden repeatedly pushed to freeze Social Security funding, cut Social Security benefits and raise the Social Security eligibility age — and he bragged about it on the floor of the U.S. Senate,” Shakir said.
“On the other hand, Bernie Sanders fought those efforts every single step of the way, and has fought his entire career to protect and expand Social Security. The facts are just the facts.”
Biden’s remarks come only days after he was caught on tape at an event in Iowa making what the Sanders campaign describes as “an inaccurate statement” about his record on social security.
In January 1995, Sanders delivered a House floor speech opposing the balanced budget amendment because he said it would mean “the destruction of the Social Security system.”
Five days later, Joe Biden delivered a Senate floor speech boasting that, “when I argued that we should freeze federal spending, I meant Social Security as well.”
“I meant Medicare and Medicaid. I meant veterans’ benefits. And I not only tried it once, I tried it twice, I tried it a third time and I tried it a fourth time.”
Biden voted for that Balanced Budget Amendment, despite the protest of seniors groups and other grassroots groups that score votes on Social Security.
