White House forced to DELETE fact-checked tweet claiming Biden gave US seniors biggest boost in Social Security in 10 years
On Monday, the White House took credit for hikes in Social Security checks
In a tweet, it said it had to do with ‘President Biden’s leadership’
Fact-checkers were quick to point out that it was a legal requirement, based on inflation
Twitter added a comment saying it was an automatic adjustment
A white official said it was removed because ‘the point was incomplete’
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The White House was forced into an embarrassing Twitter ascent on Wednesday, removing a tweet claiming that President Joe Biden was responsible for the biggest increase in Social Security checks in a decade.
As fact-checkers were quick to point out, the increase is based on the inflation rate and required by law.
Initially, Twitter added a note to the original Monday afternoon tweet.
By Tuesday afternoon, the message had been deleted.
The problem started with a tweet from the official White House account.
On Monday, the White House boasted of increases in Social Security benefits. A day later, the tweet was deleted after Twitter added a fact check
The White House claimed President Joe Biden was responsible for a record hike in Social Security checks. In fact, it was an automatic adjustment triggered by record inflation
“Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years thanks to President Biden’s leadership,” it said.
Some of that is true. Next year, Social Security benefits will rise 8.7 percent next year, which is the largest cost-of-living adjustment since 1981.
Policy experts on Twitter were quick to suggest that the Biden administration took credit for something that happened automatically — and that was a reflection of historic inflation levels.
Twitter then added its fact-checking note.
“Seniors will receive a large increase in Social Security due to the annual adjustment of the cost of living, which is based on inflation,” it said.
“President Nixon signed the Automatic Benefit Adjustment Act Linked to the Consumer Price Index Act in 1972.”
It contained a link to the relevant legislation.
Biden’s opponents rejoiced at the confusion.
“Next year, the Social Security hike will be one of the biggest in decades after Biden’s disastrous policies that have pushed prices, fueled record inflation and reduced it to critical retirement savings,” Republican Representative Claudia Tenney wrote. from New York. York.
A White House official said the tweet was removed because “the point was incomplete.”
The official said a fuller picture was painted by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre when she previewed the impending increase, suggesting it would average about $140 per month.
“For the first time in more than a decade, seniors’ Medicare premiums will fall even as their Social Security checks increase,” she said.
This means seniors have a chance to stay ahead of inflation through the rare combination of rising benefits and falling premiums.
“We’ll put more money in their pockets and give them some extra breathing room.”
Biden’s career has been filled with blunders and his time in the White House has been no different.
In a speech on Tuesday, he managed to incorrectly refer to Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz as a senator; claims again that his son Beau died in Iraq, rather than years after serving there; and referred to the war in Ukraine as the war in Iraq, before quickly correcting itself.
Biden does not control the White House Twitter account.
Yet White House correspondents have long noted an unusually high level of typos and misinformation in official correspondence, such as press releases.