FoxNews.com
Donald Trump and his three Republican presidential rivals held their personal fire Thursday night during their last debate before next Tuesday's Florida primary, but they did battle on the best way to save Social Security -- with Trump breaking from his competition by saying he'd leave it alone despite warnings it would run out of money in two decades.
“I will do everything in my power not to touch Social Security,” Trump said at the debate in Miami, where Social Security is a huge issue. He said he’d instead get rid of waste, fraud and abuse – including by ensuring the government bids out contracts.
Marco Rubio, though, said the country has to “deal with it.”
“You’re still going to have hundreds of billions of dollars of deficit that you’re going to have to make up,” he said, calling for gradually raising the retirement age to 70.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz echoed that call, saying the program is “careening toward insolvency.”
“We need to see political courage to take this on and save and strengthen Social Security,” he said.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich also called for changes, though not necessarily to the retirement age.
The usual fireworks were substituted with substance, though, at the start of the Republican debate, as the candidates discussed their proposals for trade, immigration and education.
Trump even remarked on the subdued tone: “So far I cannot believe how civil it’s been up here.”
Trump, refraining so far from attacking his rivals, openly discussed his plan to hit pause on green cards.
“I would say a minimum of one year, maybe two years,” Trump said.
He also criticized the controversial H-1B visa program, acknowledging he uses it as a businessman but saying it’s “bad for workers.”
Florida Sen. Rubio defended the program but said some companies are violating the law by using the visas to replace American workers with foreign workers. At a time when trade deals have come under fire in both the GOP and Democratic races, Rubio also spoke out in favor of “good trade deals.”
“If it is a free and fair trade deal, we can compete against anyone in the world,” he said.
But Texas Sen. Cruz said American workers right now are “losing out” on some of these agreements.
“We need to negotiate trade deals protecting American workers first, not the corporate boardroom,” he said. On education, Cruz also called Common Core a “disaster” that he would end on the first day in office.
Trump kicked off the Republican debate in Florida with a message to the so-called “Republican establishment,” effectively telling them to get on board with his campaign.
The Republican front-runner started his opening statement by claiming his campaign is bringing in Democrats, independents and others in huge numbers to the polls.
“The Republican establishment, or whatever you want to call it, should embrace what’s happening,” he said, addressing tension between his campaign and senior GOP leaders. “We are going to beat the Democrats.”
The candidates faced off at the CNN-hosted debate in Miami ahead of next week’s critical primaries in five states – including the valuable contests in Ohio and Florida, where the winner of each will take home all delegates at stake.
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