On Wednesday, the White House was shamed into deleting a tweet in which the administration boasted about a bump in the value of Social Security checks after Elon Musk’s Twitter placed a fact-check disclaimer on the post.
The Biden administration posted to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, “Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden’s leadership.”
CNN senior reporter Daniel Dale replied to the tweet and accused the administration of twisting the narrative.
“That’s quite the spin. The size of Social Security checks is linked, by law, to inflation,” Dale wrote. “This year’s increase is unusually big because the inflation rate is unusually big.”
Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter last week, added a fact-check disclaimer to the White House’s post.
”Seniors will receive a large Social Security benefit increase due to the annual cost of living adjustment, which is based on the inflation rate,” the fact-check stated.
The note linked to the Social Security Administration’s website for more information regarding the legislation signed into law in 1972 by former President Richard Nixon. The legislation ensured automatic cost-of-living allowances based on the consumer price index.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky fired back at the White House’s post on Twitter.
”Biden social media geniuses are giving Biden credit for the biggest Social Security COLA in 10 years, but neglect to mention that SS COLA is an automatic formula based on government inflation metric,” he stated.
Republican Representative Vicky Hartzler of Missouri wrote in response to the administration’s blunder, “Biden’s leadership’ is solely responsible for record inflation, according to the White House.”
The Biden administration’s now-deleted post boasted about the 8.7% bump in the amount included in Social Security checks that will take effect in 2023. The increase was announced last month on the same day the administration also revealed an 8.2% inflation rate increase in September.
The bump in the value of Social Security checks is the largest increase since 1981, when benefits were raised by 11.2%.
The White House Twitter account subsequently deleted the post.