Joe Biden Goes on the Attack in Local Florida Interview: Trump Will ‘Wipe Out Social Security’ By 2023

Former Vice President Joe Biden hit President Donald Trump where it hurts during an interview with a local Florida news station, telling News 6 Anchor Ginger Gadsden that the president will “wipe out Social Security” by 2023.

The former VP sat for a series of local interviews Wednesday following his speech/press conference, including one with Central Florida’s News 6. Toward the end of the chat, Gadsden asked Biden about his plans to visit the region.

“Are you coming to Orlando any time soon, and will you come and see us?” Gadsden asked.

“That is my intention,” Biden said, adding his consistent refrain that “What I’m going to do is follow the science, though. Follow the science, and make sure what I do is consistent with making sure we deal with the one thing people are afraid of.”

“They’re afraid of dying or getting ill from COVID. That is the responsibility of a leader, to make sure you do it responsibly. That is my intention, to be in Orlando,” Biden said.

Then he brought out the big guns, telling Gadsden “My intention to be in Florida. Because look, in Florida, what’s happening in Florida? I mean you have a president of the United States that just introduced a proposal to wipe out Social Security. The head of the actuarial at the Department of Social Security said if his plan for Social Security goes forward, the entire fund will be depleted by the middle of 2023.”

Biden was referring to Trump’s proposal to eliminate the payroll tax that funds Social Security.

Last week, Chief Actuary Stephen Goss sent a letter to Congress indicating that under such a plan, with “no other changes to current law,” the Social Security trust fund “would become permanently depleted by the middle of calendar year 2023,” and the disability fund “would become permanently depleted in about the middle of calendar year 2021, with no ability to pay DI benefits thereafter.”

Trump hasn’t proposed a plan to replace the payroll tax, instead claiming the shortfall could be paid from “the general fund” and “from other places,” insisting that economic growth would make up for the difference. The current federal budget deficit is estimated to be $2.8 trillion, and the payroll tax takes in more than $1 trillion a year.

Florida has a large population of senior citizens, so much so that in April, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis described the coronavirus-ravaged state as “God’s waiting room.”

Watch the clip above via Orlando’s News 6.