President Joe Biden speaks about his administration's plans to protect Social Security and Medicare and lower healthcare costs, Thursday, February 9, 2023, at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida.
Patrick Semansky/AP Photo
Biden made it clear that he'll keep attacking Republicans over their proposals on Medicare and Medicaid.
"If that's your dream, I'm you're nightmare," the president said in Tampa.
He's taken to showing off a copy of a brochure from Republican Sen. Rick Scott.
During his State of the Union Address Tuesday, President Joe Biden got Republicans to agree that they wouldn't try to cut Medicare and Social Security, appearing to put the matter to rest.
But arriving in Tampa, Florida, on Thursday, he decided to needle the GOP in a once-swing state over their records and ideas on the popular programs anyway.
"We had a little bit of spirited debate at the State of the Union," Biden said at the University of Tampa, referring to the chaotic exchange that took place between himself and congressional republicans who shouted out during his remarks.
"I guess I shouldn't say any more," he said, "but particularly on Social Security and Medicare." Biden then produced a brochure featuring ideas advanced by Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who was also his preferred foil for the 2022 midterm elections.
The president pointed to a proposal from Scott, who chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee last cycle, that would sunset federal programs every five years, including Social Security and Medicare, forcing Congress to regularly re-approve them. Biden called the plan "outrageous."
"Maybe he has changed his mind, maybe he has seen the Lord," Biden said. He promised to veto any such changes if they ever crossed his desk.
"If that's your dream, I'm you're nightmare," he said.
He also called out newly re-elected Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for refusing to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which would provide government-financed health insurance to roughly 800,000 low-income Floridians.
The attack lines on Social Security and healthcare programs are becoming a theme for the 80-year-old POTUS as he likely seeks another term in 2024.
Florida has among the highest proportion of seniors in the US — alongside Maine — with one in five residents covered by Social Security, which provides income during retirement; and Medicare, the government financed health insurance program that also covers people who have kidney failure, as well as certain people with disabilities. People living in the US pay into these programs through federal income taxes.
Biden hasn't formally declared he's running for reelection, though he has said he intends to run, and DeSantis hasn't stated his plans for the White House. Still, he appears to be a formidable force in the Republican Party, and Democratic operatives recently told Bloomberg News that they were growing concerned about his prospects against the president.
President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis arrive to tour an area impacted by Hurricane Ian on October 5, 2022, in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
Evan Vucci/AP
Democrats double down on Medicare and Social Security
Before Biden even set foot in the Sunshine State, the White House circulated a document to reporters accusing Republicans of working to undermine the entitlement programs.
The progressive-backed group DeSantis Watch went after DeSantis' congressional record. They launched Facebook ads in Florida attacking DeSantis over his record voting for an alternative budget with other House conservatives to shrink the deficit that included raising the retirement age to 70, and the Medicare eligibility age to 67.
The Florida Democratic Party hit DeSantis for supporting, while in Congress, a proposal to replace Medicare with a voucher program that would give seniors a stipend to buy their own health insurance — whether private insurance, Medicare, or Medicare Advantage, which is administered by private plans.
They also hit Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for supporting the same voucher proposal and for a bill he introduced that would allow families to tap into Social Security early to help fund paid family leave after a birth or an adoption. Biden himself didn't call out Rubio by name.
"You wouldn't get 10 votes for that in either chamber," Rubio told Insider at the US Capitol. He added that Biden has latched onto the "political talking point" to distract Americans from his underwhelming leadership.
"He can talk about whatever he wants. People see the reality of his administration," Rubio said of Biden's stumping in Tampa, accusing the president of failing to deal with mounting crises like fentanyl overdoses, mass layoffs, inflation, and more.
"Maybe he thinks people are stupid," Rubio said. "But they're not."
Florida Sen. Rick Scott speaks during a news conference following the GOP weekly policy luncheon on Capitol Hill on September 20, 2022.
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Scott defended himself, and launched an attack of his own
Ahead of Biden's visit, Scott, who is up for reelection in 2024, announced he was running a five-figure ad calling for Biden's resignation, specifically targeting the way that the president's Inflation Reduction Act would cut Medicare spending by $280 billion — though the number is expected to be achieved through limiting how much pharmaceutical companies can charge for medicines.
Biden, too, introduced a bill in 1975 similar to Scott's, when he was 32, that would have sunsetted all federal programs every four years, The Hill reported. Asked by reporters about the differences between the two plans on Air Force One, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Scott this week doubled down on his own plan.
"A bill from the 1970s is not part of the president's agenda," she said. "You have to listen to what the president said the last couple of years about protecting and fighting for Medicare and Social Security."
On Thursday, Scott called the president a "hypocrite and a liar."
"I've never ever said I would reduce Medicare or Social Security benefits. I've only said I wanted to preserve them and save them," Scott told reporters on his way to a Senate vote. He did not, however, explain how his polarizing plan would keep payroll tax-based benefits off the chopping block.
"Let's figure out how we're going to preserve it — and balance the budget," Scott said as a set of elevator doors closed behind him.
GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, whom Biden also called out by name during a press event Wednesday in the Badger State, accused the president of "lying through his teeth."
"Biden wanted to do what he's falsely accusing me of wanting to do," Johnson told Insider in the Senate subway, referring to Biden's nearly 50-year-old trial balloon.
"All I've ever proposed is that we ought to put everything on the budget that needs to be prioritized every year. And of course, the top priorities would be Social Security, Medicare, defense, and Veterans Affairs," Johnson said of the long-term commitments that immediately jumped to mind, adding, "We can't just wall off 70% of the budget, ignore it and let it die on the vine."
Johnson said he's not advocating for tying entitlement reform to the looming debt ceiling negotiations, but maintains that passing annual budgets and hashing out individual spending bills is preferable to the catch-all funding packages Congress has relied on in recent years.
Johnson also accused Senate Democrats of demonizing cost-cutting measures because they "have no interest in controlling their spending desire."
White House aides dismissed the political jousting as disingenuous in an email sent to reporters, citing a post-SOTU interview Johnson gave in which the Wisconsin Republican called Social Security "a legal Ponzi scheme."
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
Bonnie Cash/Pool Photo via AP, File
Government programs need long-term fix
The debate over Medicare and Social Security is happening at a time when the federal government hasn't adequately funded the programs.
Unless Congress acts, Medicare's program that pays for hospital care will be depleted by 2028, federal projections show. As for Social Security, its trust funds are expected to be insolvent by 2035, which would trigger 20% in cuts across the board. That equates to as much as $17,000 in benefit cuts for couples, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Asked about how Biden would guarantee the programs' long-term solvency, Jean-Pierre didn't offer specifics other than to say he planned to "put a bull's eye" on Republicans.
Biden's latest promise to protect Social Security is a roll back from his 2020 election promise, when he vowed to expand the program, including through pushing for seniors above the age of 85 to receive higher monthly checks. Asked about this on Thursday, Jean-Pierre told reporters that she wasn't going to get ahead of any potential announcements about the president's budget.
She also noted that Biden's signature Inflation Reduction Act increased healthcare benefits for seniors. Among the provisions were a cap on the price for insulin — a crucial medicine for people with diabetes — to $35 a month. Under the law, seniors also will pay no more than $2,000 a year for prescriptions and by 2026, Medicare will set prices for 10 expensive medicines.
Twenty-three House Republicans, including Reps. Byron Donalds and Matt Gaetz of Florida, signed onto a bill to repeal the law, though Republican congressional leaders haven't made such pledges. Biden called out the Republicans during his speech in Tampa.
But he wasn't the only one to dole out criticisms over drug prices. On Tuesday, DeSantis questioned the president's commitment to lower drug prices, criticizing the Biden administration for taking more than two years, without any answer, to review Florida's proposal to allow the state to import cheaper prescriptions from Canada.
The plans would primarily benefit state spending on medicines for people who are incarcerated, and for Floridians who receive state-funded insurance to help pay for pregnancy care or disability services. Biden had promised to allow drug importation when he ran for the presidency.
