Polls suggest that many Americans believe the GOP would handle the economy more competently, though many of the country’s financial pressures have global rather than domestic macroeconomic causes.

The White House celebrated increases in Social Security check payments from next year. But to what extent can the president and his administration take credit?

The Claim

A tweet sent by the White House, on November 1, 2022, claimed: “Seniors are getting the biggest increase in their Social Security checks in 10 years through President Biden’s leadership.”

The Facts

It is true that the 2023 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) rises on Social Security Check will be the highest increase for a decade. In fact, it’s actually the highest since 1981, according to the AARP.

However, while many may be looking forward to the increase, there is the claim in the White House tweet that this was a result of “Biden’s leadership”. In fact, COLA is adjusted according to the pace of inflation.

The adjustment is calculated by comparing the average CPI-W (Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers) for the third quarter of the current year to that of the previous year, and if there’s an increase, social benefits are adjusted to match it.

With inflation hitting 8.2 percent in September, down from record highs of around 9 percent in June, COLA increases from next year reflect the economic reality of the U.S., not the result of deliberate policy.

While the increase in COLA is lower than some estimates made earlier this year, it is nonetheless one of the highest for a modern president.

It may also affect some of the benefits that low-income COLA beneficiaries received.

Speaking to Newsweek earlier this year, Mary Johnson, a policy analyst at the nonpartisan Senior Citizens League, said: “Of that group, 14 percent reported their benefits were adjusted in 2022 due to the 5.9 percent COLA received this year.

“Six percent reported that due to the 5.9 percent COLA they lost access to one or more programs altogether.”

“I would argue this does not make a high COLA bad,” Johnson continued, adding that “higher taxes occur when anybody gets a raise, and few people turn down the raise for that reason alone.”

“It does mean that we need to plan for taxes and possibly higher Medicare costs,” she said.

“It may mean contacting the Social Security Administration to increase withholding of taxes from your benefits, doing the same thing with the banks holding one’s retirement savings accounts.

“And for some people, it might be necessary to send in quarterly estimated tax payments.”

The increases will be tangible; the average retiree benefit of $1,680 after COLA would increase to $1,827, an uplift of $147.

While the White House’s actions may have affected the increase (depending on the extent to which you blame it for America’s current period of high inflation), the Biden Administration did not directly decide the COLA rise.

Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment.

The Ruling

Needs Context.

The COLA increase, applied to Social Security payments, is the highest rate in ten years, unmatched since 1981.

However, the increase is determined by inflation; while the White House may have contributed to current rates through its actions, it did not decide what the COLA change would be.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team