“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years,” President Joe Biden said at Tuesday’s State of the Union.
Point of order: they’ve wanted to cut the social safety net since the first FDR administration.
Really appreciate the vigor with which Joe (and the WH PR arm) are stating in plain terms what and who wish to cut two of the most popular and successful government programs.
CBS News–
There’s no state (Florida) with a larger population that utilizes those programs and most critically. And there are no two politicians they want to spar with more on the programs than Scott and Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“We want this fight,” a senior White House official told CNN. “We relish this fight.”
Ooops
Birds of a feather.
Gooops
That old left-handed compliment, “You’re not as dumb as you look” does not apply to Matty.
This is almost word-for-word what McConnell said yesterday in Kentucky, except the DeSantis part.
What is happening here?
But there’s such sincerity in their eyes. How can I say no?
Mitch wants to sunset those programs just as much. But he is not stupid, like DiSantis, or a psychopathic thief, like Scott. Mitch figures he got his judges and his tax cuts, and he’s willing to move incrementally. He is far more dangerous than those psychos.
Magats believe you should always be sincere.
…even when you don’t mean it.
Sen. Mike Lee is the understudy of Tucker Carlson in making grotesque, fake facial expressions for the cameras, endeavoring to mask his inner self-righteousness and corruption.
It’s tough, when you can’t decide–who’s your Daddy? Is it Richard Nixon or is it Joseph McCarthy?
Not decades, they have wanted to do away with it since Roosevelt got it passed into law.
I don’t see why anyone wants to get rid of Social Security. The taxes aren’t high on the rich because they’re capped, 66M Americans get Social Security, it’s more than half of the income for over a third of beneficiaries. It’s just not a problem.
As to replacing Medicare with private insurance— that’s just loony. It’s proven to be far more expensive. If they dealt with reality, they’d look at how to make medical and insurance markets more free and fair first.
I guess Democrats should thank the GOP for providing such a large cudgel to use against them.
On the flip side, I wish Democrats would attempt to better understand these programs before they consider any changes, for example:
“Then, Obama pitched reductions in Medicare spending and a change to how inflation is measured in determining Social Security payouts — which ultimately would have translated into lower payments over time.”
It really took a lot of negotiation and political luck to get these good programs in place as they are.
People need to understand a loss is a real loss. For example, Roe versus Wade, how long will it take for women to claw back reproductive health care from the government? Republicans count on the fight back being completely uphill, and keeping that hill. Such is the way of autocrats.
Quick edit, this IS the point of the sunset proposal of Senator Scott.
The exchange prompted a flurry of pieces capturing recent statements from Republicans, including Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rick Scott (R-FL), and plans, including Scott’s while he was chair of the National Republican Senate Committee
A flurry of pieces, you say? This is what I meant yesterday when I was good-naturedly called a country rube or naive when I said the media has taken note and will examine any discrepancy between Republican’s words and deeds on this issue seriously. It’s just too good as a “gotcha” story.
If the Republicans stand any chance in accomplishing their goals, they’re going to have to do it with subterfuge and/or with finesse. Something neither Rick Scott or lickspittle Freedom Caucus members are capable of.
Social Security cannot contribute to the deficit
Nice point. Thanks for the recap.
Felonious punks.