During his State of the Union speech, Biden said some Republicans wanted to target Social Security and Medicare. In Wisconsin Wednesday, he named names.
In his State of the Union address, Biden said some — but not all — Republicans want to target programs such as Social Security and Medicare, drawing jeers and catcalls from certain members of the GOP caucus.
On Wednesday, the president used his speech at a labor training center in Wisconsin to identify the Republicans he was talking about Tuesday night, reading direct comments the lawmakers have made when proposing changes.
“When I raised the plans of some of their members in their caucus to cut Social Security … Marjorie Taylor Greene and others stood up and said: ‘Liar, liar,’” Biden said. “Well, guess what? … I [will] remind you that Rick Scott from Florida, the guy who ran a U.S. Senate campaign, has a plan. I got his brochure right here!”
Biden was referring to Scott’s plan that would require all legislation — including that relating to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare — to be “sunset,” which would require votes every five years to continue them.
Speaking in DeForest, Wis., the president also noted that one of the state’s own senators, Republican Ron Johnson, also has expressed support for targeting the two programs in a budget-cutting move.
Johnson, who won a hard-fought reelection race in November against the state’s former lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes, suggested last August that Social Security and Medicare be eliminated as federal entitlement programs, saying the programs should instead become programs approved by Congress annually as discretionary spending.
A day after his prime-time address, Biden rallied workers in the presidential battleground state, repeating several lines from his speech while focusing on the familiar themes of the need for bipartisanship and the strength of labor unions. The speech and his appearance are seen as previews if the president formally announces his reelection bid this spring.
Biden plans a stop in Tampa on Thursday and is expected to focus on preserving Medicare and Social Security.
Among those jeering or expressing disbelief during Biden’s speech Tuesday night was Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). On Wednesday, Biden quoted from a 2010 video of Lee saying that it is his “objective to phase out Social Security” and that “Medicare and Medicaid … need to be pulled up” by their roots.
“They sure didn’t like me calling them [out] on it,” Biden said. “A lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security, Medicare. Well, let me just say this: It’s your dream, but I’m going to, with my veto pen, make it a nightmare.
