Nikki Haley, making her rounds as a Republican presidential candidate, called for raising the retirement age and placing limits on Social Security and Medicare at a town hall in Council Bluff, Iowa.
"The first thing you do is you change the retirement age of the young people coming up so that we can try and have some sort of system for them," she said Wednesday, reported CNN.
Haley, former South Carolina governor, said there must be entitlement reform as the programs are headed for bankruptcy. She added that older Americans would not experience any cuts with the changes.
"You reform the entitlements, but you do it in a way that you don't take anything away from seniors or people who are getting ready to retire. You focus on the new generation, you focus on what's next," said Haley.
According to CNN, former President Donald Trump has been pressuring the GOP to support Social Security and Medicare. At the Conservative Political Action Conference, he accused fellow Republicans of "want[ing] to raise the minimum age of Social Security to 70, 75, or even 80" and that they "are out to cut Medicare to a level that it will no longer be recognizable."
The Washington Times reported that Trump did not name anyone, although the Trump team has publicly disagreed with Haley on the issue in the past.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has remained mostly quiet on the issue after previously supporting nonbinding budgets privatizing Social Security and increasing the retirement age.
Former Vice President Mike Pence told CNBC that entitlement programs are "on the table" when addressing the national debt.
In a New York Times op-ed, President Joe Biden unveiled a proposal to shore up Medicare finances by increasing taxes on those making more than $400,000 a year and allowing Medicare more flexibility in negotiating drug prices.
The measure is expected to be stonewalled by Republicans in the House.
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