Heritage Foundation, not Project 2025, proposes Social Security cuts

"Anyone on Social Security or Disability should know. Project 2025 eliminates ALL benefits," says a July 7, 2024 X post.

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Screenshot of an X post taken June 24, 2024

Project 2025 is a blueprint for reshaping the federal government should a Republican win the presidential election this fall. An 887-page book titled "Mandate for Leadership: A Conservative Promise" outlines its goals (archived here).

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from the initiative (archived here), although many of his allies and former administration members have ties to it. 

Democrats have criticized the agenda, which includes proposals to abolish the US Department of Education and eliminate federal funding for health care providers who administer abortions.

Vice President Kamala Harris claimed during a July 23, 2024 campaign rally -- her first since receiving President Joe Biden's endorsement for the Democratic nomination -- that Trump intends to cut Social Security and other social welfare programs (archived here).

But neither Trump nor Project 2025 advocates for eliminating Social Security and disability benefits outright.

Trump says on his campaign website that, if reelected in November, he would "fight for and protect Social Security and Medicare with no cuts, including no changes to the retirement age" (archived here).

Project 2025, meanwhile, only mentions Social Security in relation to other proposals, such as modifying the tax code to benefit high earners.

When asked about the claim, a Project 2025 spokesperson pointed AFP to its website, which says: "Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership does not advocate cutting Social Security" (archived here).

The Heritage Foundation's proposal

While Project 2025 does not mention eliminating Social Security, the Heritage Foundation itself has pushed for reforms.

Social Security, funded by a payroll tax, covers basic living expenses for many older Americans. While some benefits are available at age 62, the full retirement age is 66 or 67, depending on one's date of birth (archived here and here).

Due to budget shortfalls, the Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will only be able to pay 100 percent of benefits until 2033. Unless Congress acts, the program will then disburse 79 percent of benefits, according to the department's 2024 annual report (archived here)

The Heritage Foundation recommends an array of spending cuts for the 2023-2032 fiscal years (archived here), including raising the retirement age to 69 or 70 to reflect longer life expectancy and switching to a flat benefit instead of tying it to one's lifetime wages (archived here).

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Screenshot of the Heritage Foundation website taken July 25, 2024

Timothy McBride, a health policy analyst and professor at Washington University in St Louis (archived here), told AFP the Heritage Foundation's plan to reform Social Security would result in "a pretty radical change."

He said on July 25 that while updating the eligibility age would save approximately $81 billion over 10 years, older people with health problems affecting their ability to work could suffer.

By switching to a flat benefit, which would cut almost $700 billion over 10 years, McBride said the average American would see a "pretty significant benefit cut relative to what they get on the current system."

He said: "It would move most people to a benefit that would replace income up to the poverty level, but not much higher."

AFP contacted the Heritage Foundation for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.

More of AFP's reporting on misinformation about Project 2025 is available here and here.