JD Vance on Social Security

Get more people in labor force, to bolster Social Security

Vance indicated that America needs more people working to finance the longevity of social security: "You get more revenue from more people being in the labor force, from higher productivity growth, from higher wages, from transitioning young people who are not working into the work force," he pointed out.

Asked if [he supported] raising taxes to support social security, Vance said he was not against the idea but questioned whether that would solve the challenge long-term "with demographics that are getting worse and worse [we can't[ solve the problem by taxing rich people. You have to fix the underlying issue."

No cuts; privatizing social security is a bad idea

Two years ago, the HuffPost suggested that Vance may have in the past supported social security cuts citing an old blog post where he noted that entitlement programs were widening the federal budget deficits. Vance, though, said that was not his view. "I don't support cuts to social security or Medicare and think privatizing social security is a bad idea," HuffPost quoted him saying to the publication.

Problems with the trust fund may be overstated

During that campaign, Vance also said that Americans needed more workers to help finance social security. "We've got to, frankly, stop spending so much on welfare benefits and start having a lot more workers who are paying into the system," he was quoted as saying by AARP.