When former Vice President Joe Biden recently announced his plans for older Americans, he joined his fellow Democratic presidential candidates in calling for the expansion of Social Security. "We should be increasing, not decreasing, Social Security," Biden said at a recent AARP Iowa forum. "It's within our capacity to do so."

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during the National Education Association (NEA) #StrongPublicSchools Presidential Forum in Houston, Texas, U.S, on Friday, July 5, 2019 Sergio Flores | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Biden is currently the lead candidate among Democratic primary voters, according to a July 22 poll from Morning Consult. Biden tops the list with 33%, followed by Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., with 18%; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., with 14%; and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., at 13%. Biden's campaign calls for making Social Security solvent. Currently, the program's trust funds are expected to be depleted in 2035, at which point it will pay just 80% of promised benefits. His campaign also calls for preventing any cuts to retirees who are receiving benefits. To achieve those goals, Biden's plan calls for raising taxes on the wealthy by "asking Americans with especially high wages to pay the same taxes on those earnings that middle-class families pay." Notably, the plan specifically rejects proposals to privatize the program or introduce means testing, whereby benefits would only be provided to individuals below a certain level of income or wealth. More from Personal Finance:

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Social Security trust fund could be depleted by 2035 Biden's plan would improve benefits for individuals in several key ways. It calls for increasing payments to individuals who have been receiving retirement benefits for at least 20 years. The idea is aimed at protecting those older individuals against having to deplete their savings.