With a new majority in the House, Kevin McCarthy and Republicans are shamelessly readying to cut Social Security and Medicare for millions of Americans — threatening a government shutdown over legislation that the majority of Americans oppose.
House Republicans are not alone in this attack on working families and older Americans. Republicans across the country with 2024 presidential aspirations have made their extreme stances against the major entitlement programs loud and clear by voting to weaken them through cuts, eligibility age adjustments, and privatization.
Top Republicans Sought To Cut Social Security and Medicare:
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis voted at least twice to cut funding for Medicare. DeSantis voted for the GOP FY 2018 budget resolution, which called for cutting Medicare by $473 billion. Before this, DeSantis voted to make $430 billion in cuts to Medicare, as part of the FY 2016 conference report budget resolution.
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Former President Donald Trump’s FY 2021 budget proposal sought to cut Medicare by $500 billion and Social Security and Disability Insurance by $70 billion. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “President Trump’s 2021 budget proposes about $500 billion in net Medicare spending reductions over ten years, most of which would come from reducing payments to health care providers and not affect beneficiaries directly.” According to the New York Times, “The budget would also cut spending on federal disability insurance benefits by $70 billion.”
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Former Vice President Mike Pence has advocated for the full privatization of Social Security, and to convert Medicare to a voucher program. In March 2012, Pence voted to oppose preventing Social Security privatization as part of the Democrats’ proposed budget resolution covering FY 2013 to 2022. Pence also voted seven times to convert Medicare to a voucher system that would upend the program.
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South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has perpetually sought to weaken Medicare by raising the age of eligibility. Noem voted for the FY 2016 Budget Resolution, which called for increasing the Medicare eligibility age to 67 — despite the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities saying this would leave many elders uninsured and cause the price of health care to rise across the economy.
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Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said Social Security and Medicare were bankrupting the country and weakening us as a people. According to the Miami Herald, “Yet Rubio had, at a 2011 speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, suggested that programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security ‘weakened us as a people’ because government started to supplant the role of families, neighbors and church groups.’” Rubio also twice voted for $430 billion in Medicare cuts.
Published: Jan 11, 2023