Biden, Trump clash on social welfare

GOFFSTOWN (AFP) — Joe Biden clashed with rival Donald Trump over health care and social benefits on Monday as the U.S. president visited another battleground state in November’s election.

Republican former president Trump, who is seeking a historic comeback to the White House, said in an interview on Monday that he would back cuts to social spending.

“There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting,” property tycoon Trump, 77, told CNBC.

He was asked about the possibility of cuts to the three pillars of U.S. social welfare: Medicare, which provides health care for seniors; Medicaid, which gives health care for the less-well off; and Social Security, which gives welfare for seniors and the disabled.

Democrat Biden, 81, hit right back in an event in the northeastern state of New Hampshire, accusing Trump of backing measures that would favor wealthy Americans.

“The bottom line is, he’s still at it,” said Biden.

“I’m never gonna allow that to happen. I won’t cut Social Security, I won’t cut Medicare.”

Biden’s comments came after he published an ambitious 2025 budget proposal full of populist measures, including a tax hike on billionaires and plans to strengthen social spending programs.

The budget is almost certain to be dead on arrival in the sharply divided U.S. Congress but was designed to highlight his policy differences ahead of his likely rematch with Trump.

In New Hampshire, Biden accused Trump of wanting to cut taxes on the rich and said his own economic and social policies had sparked an “American comeback.”