WASHINGTON — President Obama Wednesday called for the expansion of Social Security, a reversal from his earlier attempt to rein in the program.

“We should be strengthening Social Security,” Obama said in Elkhart, Ind., in a nearly hour-long rebuttal of Republican economic positions. “It’s time we finally made Social Security more generous and increased its benefits.”

Obama previously tried to cut the growth of Social Security by using “chained CPI” to calculate cost-of-living increases for retirees, rather than the standard consumer price index. But after blowback from progressives, Obama dropped the plan from his 2015 budget.