MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President Biden is taking a swing at President Trump over major changes to Social Security. Biden's speech to disability advocates in Chicago yesterday was his first high-profile appearance since he left the White House. Dave McKinney of member station WBEZ has more.
DAVE MCKINNEY, BYLINE: Since departing office in January, Biden has kept a relatively low profile. But Tuesday, Biden weighed in on Trump's first 12 weeks in office and the changes made to social security.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOE BIDEN: In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has made so much - done so much damage and so much destruction. It's kind of breathtaking it could happen that soon. They've taken a hatchet to the Social Security Administration.
MCKINNEY: Biden never identified Trump by name, but it was clear he blamed the president for what he characterized as the program's worsening dysfunction. The former president also tore into Trump's chainsaw-wielding billionaire adviser, Elon Musk. Musk has been at the forefront of Social Security's budget cuts and derided the program as, quote, "the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BIDEN: A Ponzi scheme? What the hell are they talking about? People earn these benefits. They paid into that benefit. They rely on that benefit. And no one, no one, no one, should take it away.
MCKINNEY: The White House has repeatedly touted Trump's commitment to protect Social Security, but his administration has laid off thousands of agency employees and closed field offices around the country. On Tuesday, Biden theorized Trump and his team's intentions boiled down to one quip he'd heard about breaking Social Security to fund tax cuts for billionaires.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BIDEN: They want to wreck it so they can rob it.
MCKINNEY: In dipping his toe back into national politics, Biden sounded the alarm on Social Security - even if it wasn't from the powerful White House pulpit he once held.
For NPR News, I'm Dave McKinney in Chicago.
(SOUNDBITE OF MARVIN GAYE'S "MANDOTA (INSTRUMENTAL)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
