Former President Biden said the Trump administration has “done so much damage and so much destruction” since taking office, accusing the White House of “taking a hatchet” to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and “breaking things” in his first speech since leaving the Oval Office earlier this year.
In less than 100 days, this new administration has accomplished so much—done so much damage and destruction. “It is incredible that it could happen so soon,” Biden said at the national conference of Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled (ACRD) in Chicago.
“They have taken a hatchet to the Social Security Administration,” Mr. Biden said. During that time, 7000 employees, including senior officials, left. We can already see the effects.
The speech, Biden’s first major remarks since handing over control of the White House to President Trump, comes as Democrats fear that Trump’s efforts to cut government bureaucracy and spending will harm Social Security and the tens of millions of Americans who rely on it.
The Social Security Administration has announced significant workforce reductions, and the agency is facing a lawsuit over the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to millions of Americans’ personal information stored in SSA systems, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Biden praised his own work on Social Security, which he called “a sacred promise,” without directly mentioning his successor — but he also sounded alarms about Republicans in Congress and the administration as a whole.
“Why are these guys targeting Social Security now? They are following an old tech startup line. The quote goes, ‘Move fast, break things.’ They are certainly breaking things. “They are shooting first and aiming later,” Biden explained.
He added that he used a quote from former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley: “They want to wreck it so they can rob it.”
O’Malley, who led the SSA under Biden, presented the former president with the ACRD’s Beacon of Hope Award while introducing Biden’s keynote speech.
Biden also drew laughs from the audience at what organizers said was a sold-out event by mocking Trump and Musk’s dubious claims that millions of people over the age of 100 receive Social Security benefits.
“By the way, those 300-year-old people receiving Social Security, I would like to meet them and figure out how they live that long. That is a hell of a thing, man. I am looking for longevity. Because it is hell when you reach 40 years old,” Biden joked.
When asked about Biden’s speech ahead of time, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday questioned the ex-president’s age. Biden was the oldest sitting president, at 82 years old and in his final year in office. At the age of 78, Trump is the oldest president ever elected.
“I can not believe he is speaking at night. “I thought his bedtime was much earlier than his speech tonight,” Leavitt explained. “Let me make it clear…” This president, Donald Trump, is adamant about protecting Social Security benefits for law-abiding, taxpaying Americans and seniors who have paid into the program.”
Leavitt also announced that Trump would sign a presidential memorandum aimed at “preventing illegal aliens and other ineligible individuals” from receiving benefits.