EXETER, N.H. — Hillary Clinton this weekend promised that she won’t cut Social Security benefits if elected president, caving to pressure from liberal activists while also accusing primary rival Sen. Bernard Sanders of using “false innuendos” to scare Democratic voters.
In a tweet Saturday night, Mrs. Clinton responded directly to Mr. Sanders’ demand that she take Social Security cuts completely off the table.
“@BernieSanders I won’t cut Social Security. As always, I’ll defend it, & I’ll expand it. Enough false innuendos,” she tweeted Friday night.
The promise came less than 12 hours after Mr. Sanders, speaking at a campaign rally here days before the New Hampshire primary, explicitly calling on Mrs. Clinton to disavow any and all Social Security cuts.
“The issue right now is to expand Social Security benefits … It is imperative that we increase and expand benefits for senior citizens and disables veterans on Social Security by lifting the cap on taxable income,” Mr. Sanders said at the rally.
Progressives cheered Mrs. Clinton’s declaration.
“This is a huge victory for American seniors. Today, after thousands of Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Social Security Works members took action — Hillary Clinton took cuts to Social Security off the table. Now, we can finally move to the conversation we should be having in a Democratic primary: how to best expand Social Security,” said Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the liberal advocacy group the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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