Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016/Federal assistance programs

Donald Trump announced his presidential run on June 16, 2015.

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The overview of the issue below was current as of the 2016 election.
Social Security is said to touch the lives of more Americans than any other federal program. At the end of 2014, 59 million individuals were receiving benefits and 166 million were paying into the system by way of payroll taxes. The ratio of workers to beneficiaries has declined over time and reduced the amount of excess funds earning interest. This ratio is not predicted to increase in the near term, particularly as more baby boomers retire. Under the present system, today's Social Security taxes pay the benefits of today's retirees. For these and other reasons, the system is unsustainable over the long term. The 2016 presidential candidates offered policy solutions and plans that could benefit workers and future retirees and address the system's financial outlook should the next president take action.

See below what Donald Trump and the 2016 Republican Party Platform said about federal assistance programs.

CANDIDATE SUMMARY

Trump said that he and other wealthy Americans should relinquish their Social Security benefits.

He supported saving Social Security and not cutting benefits.

Trump said that Americans should get what they paid into the Social Security system.

He believed that there was widespread fraud in the Medicare, disability insurance, and food stamp programs.

Trump supported the 1996 Welfare Reform Act’s work requirement.

Trump on federal assistance programs

See also: Federal policy on Social Security, 2017-2020

• At the No Labels conference on October 12, 2015, Donald Trump said he and other ultra-wealthy Americans should “voluntarily” relinquish their Social Security benefits. “I have friends that are worth hundreds of millions and billions of dollars and get Social Security. They don’t even know the check comes in,” he said.

• While speaking at the Iowa Freedom Summit in January 2015, Trump said he would save Social Security. He stated, "We have to make our country rich again so we can do that, so we can save Social Security. Because I'm not a cutter. I'll probably be the only Republican that doesn't want to cut Social Security. I want to make the country rich so that Social Security can be afforded and Medicare and Medicaid. Get rid of the waste. Get rid of the fraud. But you deserve your Social Security."

• Trump suggested at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2013 that a Republican cannot win an election and substantially change Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security.

• In his 2011 book, Time to Get Tough, Trump discussed his position on several federal assistance and entitlement programs.

• Defending Social Security, Trump wrote, "It's not unreasonable for people who paid into a system for decades to expect to get their money's worth–that's not an 'entitlement,' that's honoring a deal. We as a society must also make an ironclad commitment to providing a safety net for those who can't make one for themselves. Social Security is here to stay. To be sure, we must reform it, root out the fraud, make it more efficient, and ensure that the program is solvent. Same goes for Medicare. Again, people have lived up to their end of the bargain and paid into the program in good faith. Of course they believe they're 'entitled' to receive the benefits they paid for–they are!"

• Trump criticized Medicare and disability insurance benefits for being rampant with fraud.

• Trump wrote, "The food stamp program was originally created as temporary assistance for families with momentary times of need. And it shouldn't be needed often. Thankfully, 96 percent of America's poor parents say their children never suffer even a day of hunger. But when half of food stamp recipients have been on the dole for nearly a decade, something is clearly wrong, and some of it has to do with fraud."

• Trump also praised the 1996 Welfare Reform Act's welfare-to-work measure in this book. Trump wrote, "To get your check, you had to prove that you were enrolled in job-training or trying to find work. But here's the rub: the 1996 Welfare Reform Act only dealt with one program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), not the other seventy-six welfare programs which, today, cost taxpayers more than $900 billion annually. We need to take a page from the 1996 reform and do the same for other welfare programs. Benefits should have strings attached to them. After all, if it's our money recipients are getting, we the people should have a say in how it's spent. The way forward is to do what we did with AFDC and attach welfare benefits to work. The Welfare Reform Act of 2011–proposed by Republican Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Scott Garrett of New Jersey–does just that."

• Read what other presidential candidates said about federal assistance programs.

The 2016 Republican Party Platform on federal assistance programs

“ Preserving Medicare and Medicaid More than 100 million Americans depend on Medicare or Medicaid for their healthcare; with our population aging, that number will increase. To preserve Medicare and Medicaid, the financing of these important programs must be brought under control before they consume most of the federal budget, including national defense. The good news is that it can be done, and it can be done without endangering the elderly and the needy who depend on those programs. We intend to save Medicare by modernizing it, empowering its participants, and putting it on a secure financial footing. We will preserve the promise of Medicaid as well by making that program, designed for 1965 medicine, a vehicle for good health in an entirely new era. Medicare’s long-term debt is in the trillions, and it is funded by a workforce that is shrinking relative to the size of future beneficiaries. Obamacare worsened the situation — and imperiled seniors — by imposing hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare providers to pay for its new spending. When a vital program is so clearly headed for a train wreck, it’s time to put it on a more secure track. That is why we propose these reforms: Impose no changes for persons 55 or older. Give others the option of traditional Medicare or transition to a premium-support model designed to strengthen patient choice, promote cost-saving competition among providers, and better guard against the fraud and abuse that now diverts billions of dollars every year away from patient care. Guarantee to every enrollee an income-adjusted contribution toward a plan of their choice, with catastrophic protection. Without disadvantaging present retirees or those nearing retirement, set a more realistic age for eligibility in light of today’s longer life span. This is an agenda to improve healthcare, not just to manage its costs. We reject the Democrats’ approach of rationing inherent in Obamacare. We recognize the de facto rationing of healthcare caused by reduced access to doctors who increasingly opt out of participating in Medicare and Medicaid. We will not accept that or any other approach which denies care — or lowers its quality — for America’s elderly. Medicaid presents related, but somewhat different challenges. As the dominant force in the health market with regard to long-term care, births, and persons with mental illness, it is the next frontier of welfare reform. It is simply too big and too flawed to be administered from Washington. Most of the vaunted expansion of health insurance coverage under Obamacare actually has been an unprecedented expansion of the Medicaid rolls in many states. We applaud the Republican governors and state legislators who have undertaken the hard work of modernizing Medicaid. We will give them a free hand to do so by block-granting the program without strings. Their initiatives — whether premium supports for purchasing insurance, refundable tax credits, alternatives to hospitalization for chronic patients, disease prevention activities, and other innovations — are the best strategy for preserving Medicaid for those who need it the most. Block granting Medicaid is particularly needed to address mental health care. Mental illness affects people from all walks of life, but there has been little success in developing effective system-wide medical models for addressing mental health. For a variety of unique reasons, government is often the first frontier for people experiencing mental health problems — from first responders who deal with crises to publicly funded mental health facilities and prisons where large numbers of inmates suffer from mental illnesses. Using block grants would allow states to experiment with different systems to address mental health and develop successful models to be replicated in states across the nation. The current federally dictated mental health care regime is wasteful and ineffective, and moving to a block grant approach would allow for state and local governments to create solutions for individuals and families in desperate need of help in addressing mental illness. We respect the states’ authority and flexibility to exclude abortion providers from federal programs such as Medicaid and other healthcare and family planning programs so long as they continue to perform or refer for elective abortions or sell the body parts of aborted children. Saving Social Security We reject the old maxim that Social Security is the “Third Rail” of American politics, deadly for anyone who would change it. The Democratic Party still treats it that way, even though everyone knows that its current course will lead to a financial and social disaster. Younger Americans have lost all faith in the program and expect little return for what they are paying into it. As the party of America’s future, we accept the responsibility to preserve and modernize a system of retirement security forged in an old industrial era beyond the memory of most Americans. Current retirees and those close to retirement can be assured of their benefits. Of the many reforms being proposed, all options should be considered to preserve Social Security. As Republicans, we oppose tax increases and believe in the power of markets to create wealth and to help secure the future of our Social Security system. Saving Social Security is more than a challenge. It is our moral obligation to those who trusted in the government’s word. ” —2016 Republican Party Platform

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See also

• Donald Trump
• Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016