Haley Campaign Press Release - Desperate Ron DeSantis Lies About Haley's Social Security Record and His Own

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Ron DeSantis is so desperate to save his failing campaign, he's lying about Nikki Haley's Social Security record AND his own.

In his CNN town hall last night, DeSantis criticized Haley's plan for saving Social Security (which will start running out of money in 2033). He said:

DESANTIS: So, what she has said, Nikki Haley, she has claimed that the retirement age is way, way, way too low. That's what she said. So, you got a lot of people that have worked hard their whole life. Life expectancy is declining in this country. It's tragic. But it's true. So, to look at those demographic trends, and say that, you would jack it up, so that people are not going to be able to have benefits? I mean, I don't know why she's saying that. You got to look at the trends.

Lie #1: Ron DeSantis supports raising the retirement age.

Congressman DeSantis voted for budget resolutions that would have raised the retirement age to 70 in 2013, 2014, and 2015. In 2012, Ron DeSantis told a local Florida newspaper that Social Security was unsustainable and was never intended for people to be retiring at "65 or 67" if they are going to live into their eighties.

DESANTIS: Now it's running a deficit, so there's nothing left in Social Security. It's guys like me pay into it, and then people who are on Social Security, the check immediately goes out to them. We're now taking in less than the checks are going out, and so that problem is going to get worse, but I think for people in my generation, my life expectancy–and again I wouldn't change it for people who are on it now–but my life expectancy is, it's improved. I was born in '78, and it's probably improved five or six years, just on average. That tends to annoy people when I tell them I'm gonna be around for a few more years longer, but it's true. And so, me getting Social Security at 65 or 67, if I'm gonna live for into my 80s, is probably not sustainable. When Social Security was created, the age that you received the benefit was actually higher than the life expectancy was. And so it was a, it was kind of a can't lose system from the government's perspective. They taxed everyone 1% and a lot of people that ended up getting anything. And I don't know if that was just the way because they wanted it to eventually evolve in the way it is now, but the system was not originally designed for people to be on it for 30 years. So we just have to understand that, that it's a mathematical problem. And to allow people like me, who have a lot longer to go, to be able to make some changes for us.

Lie #2: DeSantis said that "Life expectancy is declining in this country. It's tragic. But it's true." This is false.

Life expectancy dropped during COVID but rebounded last year. When Social Security started, life expectancy was 58 for men and 62 for women. Today, life expectancy is 74 for men and 79 for women.

Lie #3: DeSantis accused Haley of wanting to raise the retirement age for all retirees. False. Haley has ONLY called for adjusting the retirement age for younger workers in their twenties like her children.