In a Senate floor speech on Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders said Social Security benefit cuts must not be part of a deficit reduction package being negotiated by the White House and congressional leaders."One of the areas that concerns me very much is that in the midst of all of this deficit reduction talk seemingly out of nowhere comes the idea that we must make major cuts in Social Security," Sanders said. Watch the speech.

Sanders spoke about the program that helps more than 50 million retirees and disable people as Congress and the White House face an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling in order to avoid default.

It would be "absolutely wrong" to make Social Security cuts part of a deficit-reduction package, the senator said. The program funded by payroll taxes has not contributed a nickel to the deficit. It currently has a $2.6 trillion surplus and can pay every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next quarter century, he said.

It also would be wrong, he added, "because cutting Social Security would hurt in a very significant way millions of the most vulnerable people in our country." 

Sanders noted that President Obama in 2008 promised not to cut Social Security benefits.