Harris claims Trump win would be 'catastrophic' for Social Security, but first term tells different tale

If elected, the policy think tank also found that Social Security's cash shortfall could increase by $2.3 trillion through 2035. This change would push the program's insolvency date up from 2034 to 2031, meaning the next president will need to deal with this issue sooner than expected. If these changes happen, people could face a 33% cut in their benefits by 2035, compared to a 23% cut projected earlier, the report noted.

Additionally, the annual shortfall is expected to rise by about 50% in 2035, going from 3.6% to 4% of payroll. To fix the long-term funding issues for Social Security, the report suggests there would either need to be benefit cuts by one-third or revenue increases of about 50%.

But a former Trump administration adviser who worked on Social Security policy told Fox News Digital in an interview that "what the Biden Harris folks are doing to mismanage the agency is bleeding money in over payments."

"And now sort of waving everyone's over payment, as what [Commissioner Martin O'Malley] is doing, I think is a lot more reckless and doing a lot more harm to the trust fund than proposing even these ideas," the source said.

Harris later told CNN she believed Trump was "hostile" toward the "notion and purpose of Social Security" and that it would be "catastrophic" if the SS trust fund was insolvent in the next few years.

Meanwhile, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed response:

But if no reforms are made, the same Americans who receive Social Security benefits now - particularly those who rely on the benefits - face a significant threat to their income come 2033.

Fox Business's Breck Dumas contributed to this report.