President Joe Biden used the State of the Union to style himself as the guardian of Social Security and Medicare and accused Republicans of jeopardizing the programs, eliciting boos from the crowd and prompting a back-and-forth with members of the GOP.
Biden said some Republicans want to “take the economy hostage” unless he agrees with their economic plans, despite House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) already saying those programs won’t be part of debt limit negotiations.
“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years,” Biden said. “That means if Congress doesn’t vote to keep them, those programs will go away. Other Republicans say if we don’t cut Social Security and Medicare, they’ll let America default on its debt for the first time in our history.”
“I won’t let that happen,” he added.
Republicans immediately erupted into booing, with shouts of “liar” being heard in the chamber. McCarthy shook his head as Biden spoke. There was a bit of a back-and-forth between Biden and the Republican side of the chamber, with GOP lawmakers forcing Biden into conceding that it is not the party as a whole that wants to use Social Security and Medicare as leverage, but rather a small minority of Republicans.
Biden engaged with Republicans and claimed that, in the exchange, they had reached unanimity about sparing the programs from cuts.
It is worth noting that Sen. Rick Scott has proposed making most federal spending programs, like Medicare and Social Security, up for renewal every five years, something that critics say could threaten the programs.
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The United States hit its debt limit last month, beginning a countdown for the Treasury to miss paying a bill and raising fears of a default.
The U.S. has never defaulted on its obligations in the history of these fiscal showdowns. Republicans see the deadline as an opportunity to exact concessions from the Biden administration and Democrats.
Biden used his bully pulpit on Tuesday evening to vow that beneficiaries of Social Security and Medicare won’t end up losing their benefits.
“If anyone tries to cut Social Security, I will stop them. And if anyone tries to cut Medicare, I will stop them. I will not allow them to be taken away. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever,” he said.
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Still, despite Biden’s assertion, McCarthy has vowed that Social Security and Medicare should be “completely off the table” during debt ceiling negotiations between the White House and Republicans.
“If you read our Commitment to America, all we talk about is strengthening Medicare and Social Security,” McCarthy said last month.
