EXCLUSIVE — Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) has reintroduced a resolution affirming that Social Security should be preserved and protected, an effort to push back against Democratic accusations that Republicans want to slash the program.

Tenney told the Washington Examiner that Democrats have unfairly accused Republicans of wanting to cut into Social Security.

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“I’m just going to call it what it is: they’re lies,” Tenney said of the Democratic attacks against Republicans.

Democrats have regularly said Republicans want to slash Social Security. For instance, on the presidential campaign trail last year, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris told attendees at a rally that President Donald Trump “intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.”

“None of that is true,” Tenney said in regard to the accusations from Democrats. She said that what Republicans want to do is safeguard the program and make sure that it will continue to provide payouts in the coming decades to those who are paying into it.

“I’m worried about the next generation and the next generation,” she said during an interview in her office. “Everyone is paying, and we want to make sure they have it, and we want to make sure that people know that we are very much behind it, and we want to protect and preserve Social Security.”

Social Security is a popular retirement program that can be first claimed at age 62, although benefits increase the longer one waits to claim them, capping out at a retirement age of 70.

While, if passed, the resolution would not specifically change anything policy-wise, it does affirm Republican support for Social Security amid the Democratic attacks.

“It shouldn’t be a political rhetoric talking point against us, but it’s always the only point that they have, even though, no matter how many times we say and express that we want to preserve and protect Social Security for future generations,” Tenney said. “They don’t want to be part of the solution.”

The resolution comes as Social Security faces challenges down the line. Depending on the estimate, the combined Social Security trust fund for retirement and disability benefits will become exhausted sometime in the next decade or so.

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The resolution specifically affirms support for the 66 million people being provided income security through retirement, disability, and survivor benefits, and that the program is “essential to the dignity and security” of those who receive it.

Tenney’s resolution is co-sponsored by several other Republicans, including Reps. Rob Wittman (R-VA), Mike Flood (R-NE), Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Clay Higgins (R-LA), and Abraham Hamadeh (R-AZ).