Baldwin Highlights Social Security In Two-Minute DNC Speech
Wisconsin Senator, who faces her own reelection battle, says Harris would protect benefits.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin at the Democratic National Convention podium Thursday evening, where she spoke about protecting Social Security. (Screenshot | Democratic National Convention YouTube channel)
Speaking in the first hour of Thursday night’s festivities at the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Tammy Baldwin held up Vice President Kamala Harris as a champion for older Americans who as president would bolster Social Security.
The hour-long segment, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. central time, featured nearly 20 speakers who addressed the concerns of middle-class families, from public education to child care to housing.
Baldwin got two minutes of that hour, sandwiched between Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who praised Harris’ work as California’s attorney general going after mortgage brokers accused of taking advantage of borrowers, and Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) who said Harris understood and supported families’ need for affordable child care.
Baldwin recounted her upbringing by “two incredible grandparents who stepped in and raised me” after she was born to a teen mother who had struggled with addiction.
“Everything I know I learned from them in every way a child needs,” Baldwin said of her grandparents, David and Doris Green.
“My grandparents were there for me, and as they grew older, it was my privilege to be there for them,” Baldwin said. “So when I work to protect Medicare and Social Security, I do it with a personal knowledge of what those big programs meant in small but deeply meaningful ways to my grandparents, and I know what they mean for your parents and grandparents.”
As former President Donald Trump runs for another term, “that is all at risk today,” Baldwin said.
Trump has been quoted as saying he would address forecast shortfalls in Social Security by cutting waste. “He said, and I quote, ‘There’s a lot you can do in terms of cutting,” Baldwin said. “Cutting! He’s talking about cutting Social Security and Medicare while giving a huge new tax break to billionaires and corporations.”
She vowed that the Democratic candidates for president and vice president would stand in the way.
“Kamala Harris is not going to let that happen, and Tim Walz is not going to let that happen,” Baldwin said. “We are not going to let that happen.”
She turned back to Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
“You know, they’ve got it backwards,” Baldwin said. “We Democrats, we honor our elders and ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share.”
“Wisconsin’s state motto is ‘Forward,’” she concluded, “and my friends, that’s where we’re headed.”
In a two-minute pitch, Baldwin highlights Harris as a Social Security protector was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner.
