Bernie Sanders Sunday called on President-elect Trump to promise to veto any GOP legislation to cut Medicare, Social Security, or Medicaid, using Trump’s position on retirement programs to try to blunt GOP entitlement reform.
In a statement, the Vermont senator and former Democratic presidential candidate seized on the assertion that Trump doesn’t want to “meddle” with Medicare or Social Security, made earlier in the day by incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.
“At a time when the Republican leadership is working overtime to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the statement by Mr. Priebus is just not good enough,” Sanders said. “Mr. Trump must make it clear to the American people that he will keep the promises he made during the campaign and veto any legislation that cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.”
Sanders is planning a test vote this week with an amendment to the GOP budget resolution that would prevent entitlement cuts.
The populist senator, who called for expanding Social Security during his presidential run, has tried to keep up pressure on the GOP over entitlements following Trump’s victory.
Last week, he gave a speech against cuts to retirement and poverty programs featuring a poster-sized printout of a Trump tweet from the spring of 2015 in which Trump demanded credit for being the first Republican candidate to rule out cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
