Biden: GOP eyes entitlement cuts
Republicans denying it, but president has proof
WASHINGTON — When President Joe Biden suggested that Republicans want to slash Medicare and Social Security, the GOP howls of protest during his State of the Union address showcased a striking apparent turnaround for the party that built a brand for years trying to do just that.
The record ranges from President George W. Bush’s ideas about privatizing Social Security to House Speaker Paul Ryan’s sweeping Medicare overhaul plan to current Sen. Rick Scott’s idea of allowing those and other federal programs to “sunset.”
Speaking at a union training facility Tuesday in Deforest, Wisconsin, Biden pulled out a copy of Scott’s campaign proposals and quoted Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson as well as Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah to warn that Republicans would target Social Security and Medicare.
Referring to the loud GOP objections at the State of the Union, he said, “When I called them out on it last night, it sounded like they agreed to take these cuts off the table.”
“Well, I sure hope that’s true,” he said. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy has insisted that cuts to Medicare and Social Security are “off the table” — and many House and Senate Republicans vehemently agreed during Biden’s State of the Union address, some shouting “liar!” as he suggested they were proposing reductions.
But it’s unclear what Republicans will demand instead of entitlement cuts as they leverage negotiations over raising the nation’s debt limit to extract federal spending reductions. They say they want to put the government on a path toward a balanced budget, but that’s a daunting challenge without painful cuts elsewhere.
Johnson accused the president of “lying” about the senator’s approach. “I want to save these programs,” Johnson said Wednesday. “We need a process to prioritize spending and decrease our deficits.”
The White House has insisted that Republicans make their budget plans public for Americans to judge for themselves. That hasn’t happened yet.
“No more saying one thing and doing another,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-pierre. “Let’s see exactly what they want to do.”