New Florida Biden ad accuses Trump of raiding Social Security for coronavirus relief

The campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, released an ad in Florida on Tuesday accusing President Trump of raiding Social Security for coronavirus relief. 

The ad comes after Trump signed a slew of executive orders over the weekend, one of which directs the Treasury Department to defer payment of employee-side Social Security payroll taxes through the end of the year for those making under roughly $100,000. 

Trump also said he intends to forgive the deferred payroll taxes and make permanent payroll-tax cuts if he is reelected in November.

The new 30-second ad claims Trump is “slashing hundreds of billions of dollars from the Social Security trust fund every year.”

“Nearly 4 million Florida seniors rely on Social Security and once again Donald Trump’s failed leadership is hitting seniors the hardest,” the ad says, showing footage of the president playing golf.

Florida is a key swing state that could potentially play a big role in determining the winner of the general election. Both campaigns are pouring resources into the state. 

According to an average by FiveThirtyEight, Biden is leading in Florida, which Trump won in 2016 by 1.2 percent.

On Saturday, hours after Trump signed the orders, Biden said in an emailed statement addressing the president’s order that such a move would “undermine the entire financial footing of Social Security.”

Congressional Democrats have also denounced the order, with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) calling it “a poorly disguised first step in an effort to fully dismantle these vital programs by executive fiat.”