- Former President Joe Biden criticized the Trump administration in his first post-presidency speech for alleged attacks on Social Security.
- The Social Security Administration corrected several of Biden's statements, asserting they had not closed field offices or laid off 50% of their technology staff.
- Biden drew backlash for using outdated racial terminology when recalling a childhood memory seeing 'colored kids' on a school bus in Delaware.
Presented with the Beacon of Hope Award at the ACRD conference in Chicago, former President Joe Biden on Tuesday gave his first public post-presidency speech, largely focused on the Trump administration’s alleged attacks on Social Security.
The speech has generated a mixed response. Time Magazine criticized the former president’s remarks, saying it “reminded everyone why the former President hadn’t been able to generate the same enthusiasm.”
Meanwhile, others praised the 82-year-old former president’s speech for his lighthearted response to attacks on his age.
Describing the Americans with Disabilities Act, which he co-sponsored in 1990, Biden said, “As United States senator 400 years ago, I was looking back on it, and I was like ... I’ve been doing this 50 years.’ It’s hell turning 400 years old. Anyway.”
Biden addresses Social Security, and Social Security addresses Biden
“Today I want to talk to you about an issue that’s front and center right now for millions of Americans, and that’s Social Security,” Biden said.
Biden then referenced California Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s press release marking Tuesday as Save Social Security National Day of Action.
“Everyone in this room fights for people with disabilities who rely on Social Security to survive — to survive," Biden said. “Not just the physical side, it’s the mental side. It’s the mental side. It makes sure folks get the benefits they earn after a lifetime of hard work.”
Biden criticized the Trump administration for cutting staff at the Social Security Administration as baby boomers enter eligibility.
The SSA has laid off 7,000 employees, Biden said, adding that Republicans in Congress want “to let Social Security expire every five years, that was the proposal, let it expire every five years, unless re-authorized by the Congress.”
After his speech Tuesday night, the Social Security Administration took to X to correct several of the former president’s statements.
“The SSA has not permanently closed any field offices and 50% of the technology department has not been laid off,” the organization wrote. “SSA is taking commonsense steps to transform how we serve the public — last month, we spent $16.5 million to modernize telephone services nationwide. We’re developing cutting-edge, AI-powered tools to streamline simple tasks.”
The group added that Trump “has repeatedly promised to protect Social Security and ensure higher-take home pay for seniors by ending taxation on Social Security benefits.”
The Trump administration has the same energy as a ‘tech startup,’ Biden said
Referring to efforts by DOGE, Biden said, “You’ve got to ask yourself, why is this happening? Why are these guys taking aim at Social Security now? Well, they’re following that old line from tech startups.”
Biden then quoted Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who famously said, “Move fast, break things.”
“They’re certainly breaking things,” Biden said. “They’re shooting first and aiming later, and as a result, there’s a lot of needless pain and sleepless nights.”
Biden then asked why Republicans want “to rob” Social Security. He stated it’s “to deliver huge tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations and keep it going. They want to make permanent the 2017 tax cuts which overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations. That’s going to cost $5 trillion.”
Biden then suggested that these tax cuts for billionaires would be paid for by using funds from Social Security and Medicaid.
“Republicans or these guys are willing to hurt the middle class and the working class in order to deliver significant greater wealth to the already very wealthy.” he said.
Biden says divide over policy is really about what the American identity should be
The divide between parties over policy issues is “about who we are as Americans,” Biden said.
To Biden, “basic, fundamental values” are “nobody’s king. Nobody’s the boss. Everybody has a shot.”
“Fairness, simple fairness,” Biden said. “We can’t go on as divided as we are. Look, I’ve been doing this a long time. It’s never been this divided. Granted, it’s roughly 30%, but it’s 30% that has no heart.”
Former president draws backlash for using outdated racial terms
Toward the beginning of his speech, Biden recollected moving with his family from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Wilmington, Delaware, in the fourth grade. Before the move, he’d “never seen hardly any black people.”
He then described the moment that he believes led him to be a civil rights advocate. As his mother drove him to Catholic school in Wilmington, Biden recalled, “I remember seeing kids going by, at the time called ‘colored kids,’ on a bus go by — they never turned right to go to Claymont High School.”
“I wondered why, asked my mom. ‘Still in Delaware they’re not allowed to go to school, to public school, with white kids, honey.’” she told Biden.
Biden continued, “That sparked my sense of outrage, just like it does, I mean, these young kids right here can tell ya, things effect them when they learn about something that’s really just unfair and unjust.” Biden referenced children sitting in the front row of the event.
After the speech, Trump posted this segment of the speech without a caption to Truth Social.