During the fifth Republican Party presidential debate of the 2024 election season on Wednesday, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said she would raise the age at which younger Americans would become eligible for Social Security retirement benefits if she wins the presidency.
Haley faced off against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during the debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Former President Donald Trump—the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP race—declined host CNN's invitation to the debate, while the other Republicans did not meet CNN's requirements to qualify.
When the topic of Social Security was brought up by the moderators, DeSantis said he was against raising the retirement age because life expectancy is declining. Haley, on the other hand, said people in their 20s can expect to work longer.
"I don't see how you can raise the retirement age when our life expectancy is collapsing in this country," DeSantis said. "That's a huge problem in and of itself."
CNN's Jake Tapper asked Haley if voters in their 20s should "plan on having to work until they're 70" should she become president. Under the current U.S. law, claimants born in 1960 or later must wait until they turn 67 to collect their full retirement benefits.
"They should plan on their retirement age being increased. Yes, we're going to change it to reflect more black life expectancy should be," Haley said without providing an exact age of what she would propose raising the age to.
"We have to go and start looking at what we can do to get out of this," she added. "We want to make sure that everybody who was promised gets it [benefits], but we also want to make sure our kids have something when they get it, too."
During the discussion on Social Security, Haley also accused DeSantis of voting to raise life expectancy to 70 years old for three years in a row and not being truthful about it.
"He can call me whatever name and be demeaning as much as he wants. It doesn't change the fact that Ron's lying because Ron's losing. Everybody in the country sees it for what it is," she said.
In response, DeSantis said that "one of the things that I think we disagree on is Governor Haley has said social security is an entitlement."
He continued: "But it's not an entitlement. You're paying into it. It's not a welfare program. You're being taxed for this your whole life. You expect to have benefits on the back end."
Update 01/10/23 11:46 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include more information and quotes from Wednesday's debate.
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