Biden warns Republicans will 'take away' healthcare, retirement benefits

Joe Biden has struck out against Republicans on social spending issues in popular retirement spot Florida as the US president made his closing pitch ahead of next week's midterm elections.

"You've been paying for Social Security your whole life," the Democratic leader said on Tuesday, speaking in the coastal city of Hallandale Beach, 30 kilometres north of Miami.

"You earned it," he said, referring to the benefits programme for retirees. "Now these guys want to take it away. Who in the hell do they think they are?"

He warned against a proposal from Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, who suggested putting Social Security — which began in the 1930s — and Medicare —  the state-funded health insurance for people over 65, which has been in place since the 1960s — to a congressional vote every five years.

Biden, 79, had been promising since a trip was cancelled by a hurricane to go to Florida, a traditional "swing state" that has leaned more solidly into the conservative column in recent cycles, and where 21 percent of residents are older than 65.

"Those are more than government programmes," he added during the speech.

"They are a promise. A promise we made as a country: if you work hard and contribute when it comes time to retire, we're going to be there for you."

He declared that the current crop of GOP candidates "ain't your father’s Republican party" and said that he prayed God would deliver his opponents "some enlightenment."

After those remarks in Hallandale Beach, he was headlining a fundraiser for gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and a rally for the state’s Democratic Party, including Senate candidate Val Demings.

The White House hopes the visit will help in portraying the Republican Party as a threat to middle-class households and seniors.

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Soaring consumer prices

Biden has been relatively quiet during the campaign for the midterms, which are expected to hand the House of Representatives back to the Republicans, who would also take the evenly divided Senate with just one pick-up.

Reproductive rights once appeared to be the issue that would decide the election.

Voter registrations, particularly among women, surged after the US Supreme Court ended federal protections for abortion access in June.

But it has lost salience as a campaign issue, sparking concern among Democrats that they may have relied too heavily on the subject to the detriment of "kitchen table" fare like inflation and crime.

The party has tried to pivot in the closing weeks of the campaign, but soaring consumer prices — up 8.2 percent in a year — have undermined Biden's attempt to sell himself as the president for the American worker.

The Democrats have called on former president Barack Obama, still the party's biggest draw, to mobilise the troops.

The pair are scheduled to appear together on Saturday for a rally in Pennsylvania, one of the most hotly contested states in this cycle.

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