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Marking a stark reversal from his past position, President Barack Obama said Wednesday the U.S. ought to make Social Security retirement benefits more generous.

“It’s time we finally made Social Security more generous and increased its benefits so that today’s retirees and future generations get the dignified retirement that they’ve earned,” Obama said during a speech in Elkhart, Indiana.

“And we can start paying for it by asking the wealthiest Americans to contribute a little bit more,” Obama said. “They can afford it. I can afford it.”

The announcement represents a major evolution in the president’s public position on Social Security and a coup for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which increasingly views benefits expansion as a core element of its agenda.

Obama has previously supported cuts to Social Security retirement benefits as part of an elusive legislative “Grand Bargain,” which he sought during negotiations with congressional Republicans during key moments of budgetary brinksmanship. The proposed deals would have supposedly paired the cuts with revenue increases favored by liberals.