President Joe Biden drew raucous shouts of denial from Republicans on Tuesday when he accused them during his State of the Union address of pushing to end Social Security and Medicare, but that did not stop him from going on to mention it at two more events this week.
Republicans accused Biden of being dishonest, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) yelling “Liar!” during his speech, and say cutting or ending the two key programs for seniors is simply not on the table.
Their aversion to the prospect of overhauling Social Security and Medicare reflects a shift in the political landscape from a decade ago when the tea party movement ushered in a crop of Republican leaders who promised fiscal reform.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), for example, faced renewed scrutiny this week for his 2012 support of then-Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan, which called for the restructuring of Medicare to allow the government to subsidize parts of private insurance plans if seniors wanted them.
But Republicans have more recently insisted that Social Security and Medicare reform is not on their to-do list as they pursue spending cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.
Here is a fact check of Biden’s accusations.
“Let us commit here tonight that the full faith and credit of the United States of America will never, ever be questioned. So my — many of — some of my Republican friends want to take the economy hostage — I get it — unless I agree to their economic plans. All of you at home should know what those plans are. Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans — some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset. I’m not saying it’s a majority.” — President Joe Biden, State of the Union address, via White House transcript.
Biden’s claim that Republicans have pushed for an end to Medicare and Social Security during debt ceiling negotiations is false.
In fact, Republicans had explicitly said neither program is up for discussion as they consider which spending cuts to demand in exchange for their support of raising the debt limit.
“If you hear anyone say we’re going to cut Medicare and Social Security, it is a flat-out lie,” Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday, hours before Biden’s address. “That is not on the table. There’s enough low-hanging fruit that we can go out and cut before that.”
Other Republicans conceded that reforms would, one day, become necessary, but they stressed that GOP lawmakers will not demand any changes during the current negotiations.
“Social Security and Medicare are things that we’re going to have to look at, but not associated with the debt ceiling,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told the Washington Examiner.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had said in late January that both programs were “completely off the table” in the debt limit talks.
The way Biden raised the issue during his State of the Union speech directly linked the negotiations and the threat of those cuts or changes, which did not accurately reflect the Republican position.
In fact, leaving Social Security and Medicare out of the debt ceiling discussion is one of the only things that all House Republicans seem to agree on at this stage of their negotiations.
“My Republicans friends, they seemed shocked — (laughter) — when I raised the plans of some of their members and their caucus to cut Social Security. And Marjorie Taylor Greene and others stood up and said, ‘Liar! Liar!’ It reminds of that ‘Liar, liar, house on fire.’ Yeah. Well, guess what? You know, I remind you that [Sen.] Rick Scott [R] from Florida, the guy who ran the U.S. Senate campaign, has a plan. I got his brochure right here. It has a plan. Here’s what he says in his plan. Let me open it up here. Sorry. (Holds up and reads from paper.) He says, ‘All federal legislation sunsets every five years. If the law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.’ Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.” — Biden, remarks Wednesday in Wisconsin, via White House transcript.
Biden was referring to the jeers he received from Republicans listening to his State of the Union address in the House chamber, and this time, his claim about the Republican position was more accurate, albeit misleading.
He made a similar quip on Thursday in Tampa, Florida, where he traveled to speak specifically about Social Security and Medicare.
“Republicans seemed shocked when I took out the pamphlets they were using about cutting Medicare and Social Security — read from, you know, Sen. Scott’s proposal; read from a proposal from the senator from Wisconsin. They were offended. ‘Liar! Liar!’… I reminded them that Florida’s own Rick Scott, as the guy who ran the Senate campaign committee for Republicans last year, had a plan to sunset. Maybe he’s changed his mind. Maybe he’s seen the Lord. But — (laughter) — but he se- — wanted to sunset — meaning if you don’t reauthorize it, it goes away — sunset Social Security and Medicare every five years. Now, it’s not likely to get voted out, but I tell you — I tell you what: It’s likely it got cut drastically if you had to do it every five years.” — Biden, remarks Thursday in Florida, via White House transcript
At both events, Biden was referring to an election agenda that Scott proposed during the 2022 cycle as a set of policy positions on which he thought the party should campaign.
One of the 12 points listed in the plan included this line: “All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.”
Democrats seized on that particular line to argue that Scott was supporting an end to Social Security and Medicare because structuring the legislative process the way he suggested would allow both programs to expire without congressional intervention.
This week is not the first time the White House has used the Scott plan to accuse Republicans of wanting to gut Social Security and Medicare.
For example, White House aides passed out pamphlets that claimed Scott wanted to put the programs “on the chopping block” to Democratic political volunteers who met with Biden in October.
But the plan to require a reauthorization of Social Security and Medicare does not represent the mainstream GOP view; in fact, Republican leaders denounced the plan at the time it was released last year and have continued to do so amid Biden’s most recent references to it.
“That’s not a Republican plan. That was the Rick Scott plan,” Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Thursday. “That’s the view of the speaker of the House as well.”
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So while Biden’s second and third mention of the entitlement programs this week were more accurate than his first — he did not, in the speeches after the State of the Union, tie his claims as closely to the debt limit talks — he still painted a slightly different picture of the GOP view than is reality.
Republican leaders in the House and Senate are not pushing any reforms to Social Security or Medicare currently, nor have they signaled any plans to tackle those issues in the near term.
