On Wednesday, the White House removed a tweet that attributed the rise in Social Security payouts to “President Biden’s leadership.” The removal was most likely done because Twitter pointed out that the increase was due to a 40-year inflation high, although the White House Press Secretary has denied this.
On Tuesday, the White House Tweeted that president Biden’s efforts have led to the largest boost in Social Security payments for seniors in a decade.
The White House tweet was followed by a remark from Twitter stating that many users were adding “context” to the White House’s statement that the increase in Social Security benefits resulted from the inflation-based cost of living adjustments.
Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, emphasized on Wednesday morning that Twitter inserts “context” notes when they are rated highly enough by Twitter users.
According to Musk, the community notes function is fantastic. Our objective is to make Twitter the most reliable source of information on the planet, regardless of political affiliation, Musk added.
Several commenters on the White House tweet questioned if the administration was attempting to credit Biden’s leadership for rising inflation.
It is not the first time the White House has attempted to suppress the issue of rising inflation and portray it as though the Biden administration unilaterally decided to increase Social Security payouts. Ron Klain, chief of staff at the White House, boasted last month that Social Security payouts would increase by 8.7%.
“For the first time in a decade, Social Security payouts will increase as Medicare premiums decrease,” tweeted Klain.
This resulted in a reaction of criticism that the White House was disregarding the larger impact of record-high inflation on the quality of living of the American people. The White House twisted this in favor of celebrating an increase in benefits scheduled for the next year. Others have stated that there are already criticisms that the Social Security increase would not be sufficient to address growing inflation.
A White House insider told Fox News Digital shortly after the tweet was deleted that the decision was made because “the point was unfinished.” This source directed the new channel to a statement made by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in mid-October, which stated that Social Security benefits would increase as Medicare rates decrease, allowing seniors to get ahead of inflation. Jean-Pierre reinforced this point at the White House briefing by stating, “The tweet was incomplete.”
In 2019, Social Security payments will increase by 8.7%, the greatest cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase since 1981. The Social Security Administration calculated the new COLA from the CPI starting from the third quarter of 2021 and ending in the third quarter of 2022.
While the message was removed, the White House Twitter account preserves all account activity by federal regulations governing the preservation of public documents. Thus, the deleted tweet will remain in the archive.