President Joe Biden on Wednesday called out Republican lawmakers who booed when he accused them of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare during his State of the Union address, noting that several of them have expressed support for those cuts.
“My Republican friends seemed surprised when I brought up plans by some of their members and their caucus to cut Social Security and Marjorie Taylor and others stood up and said, ‘Liar, liar,’” Biden said in comments on the economy in an event in DeForest, Wisconsin.
Biden then pointed to a plan introduced by Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., last year when he chaired the Republican National Senatorial Committee. “I have your pamphlet right here,” Biden said, holding it up and reading: “All federal legislation expires every five years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.”
That would apply, the president said, to programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Biden also mentioned how Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, has said Congress should reconsider such programs every year. During Johnson’s competitive re-election run last year, he told a campaign stop that Social Security “was created wrong” and that the money would have been better invested in the stock market. johnson too said a radio show that Social Security and Medicare should be removed as “mandatory” programs and subject to “discretionary” spending, meaning Congress would have to renew them annually or they would terminate.
“There’s a senator named Mike Lee, who was also yelling things like ‘liar, liar, house on fire,’ last night,” Biden said, alluding to a 2010 video that came up recently in which the Utah Republican said his goal was to phase out Social Security.
“They sure didn’t like me calling them,” Biden said. “Look, a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare. Well, let me tell you this. It’s your dream, but with my veto pen I’m going to turn it into a nightmare.”
During his speech Tuesday night, Biden said that “some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to be eliminated every five years.” When Republicans in the crowd began to boo loudly, she went off script, responding, “As we can all seem to agree, Social Security and Medicare are now off the books.”
On Wednesday, Biden said the trade effectively boxed Republicans into a deal. “It appears that we negotiated a deal last night on the floor of the House of Representatives,” Biden said.
“You all have been paying into the system every paycheck you’ve had since you started working,” the president said. “These benefits belong to you, the American worker. You earn them, and I won’t let anyone cut them off, not today, not tomorrow, not ever.”
Biden said in an interview Wednesday that he was surprised by the taunts from some Republicans the night before, adding that “the vast majority of Republicans weren’t like that.”
“But you know, there’s still a significant element of what I call the MAGA Republicans, you know, the Make America Great Again Republicans, and I sort of anticipated [it]Biden said PBS News Hour.
Responding to Biden’s State of the Union address on Wednesday, Scott said in a statement that Biden had misinterpreted his proposal to strike down all federal legislation in five years. “This is clearly and obviously an idea meant to deal with ALL the crazy new laws our Congress has been passing lately. Joe Biden is confused… to suggest that this means I want to cut Social Security or Medicare is a lie, and It’s a dishonest move… by a very confused president.”
But the Republican Party has repeatedly pushed for cuts to entitlement programs.
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, for example, proposed turning Medicare into a voucher system when he chaired the House Budget Committee and introduced budget proposals in 2012 and 2013. It was a plan endorsed by many Republicans at the time.
Most recently, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., reintroduced legislation last year that he and Sen. Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, unveiled in 2019 that they would allow parents to use a portion of their Social Security benefits for up to three months of paid parental leave after the birth or adoption of a child. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank, said that under such measure“Parents who take parental leave will face permanent cuts to their Social Security retirement benefits.”
Last year, the Republican Study Committee, a large group of House conservatives, also proposed a budget that would gradually increase the retirement age for collecting Social Security, based on changes in life span, and reduce long-term benefits by using a new formula.
Many Republicans, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, have denied supporting cuts to these programs and recently said such proposals would be off the negotiating table on raising the debt limit.
But not all Republicans agree with McCarthy. This week, Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern, R-Okla., told Bloomberg News that despite McCarthy’s comments, “I don’t think it’s off the table.”
