Biden warns anew of GOP plans for Medicare, Social Security cuts

When President Joe Biden suggested Republicans want to slash Medicare Social Security, 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. Biden is not about to let Republicans off easily and forget that history. 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.”

As budget negotiations move ahead, expect the long history of GOP efforts to slash the popular entitlement programs for seniors to remain a politically powerful weapon. “They sure didn’t like me calling them on it,” Biden said Wednesday about his address Tuesday. He headed Wednesday to political battleground Wisconsin, home of Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who has proposed forcing Congress to authorize spending for Social Security every year. On Thursday Biden visited Florida, Scott’s state.

The political shift among Republicans is happening in real time, helping set the parameters for the budget negotiations as Biden and Congress try to come up with a plan for raising the nation’s debt limit by a summer deadline. GOP House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy has insisted 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.