Florida Senator Rick Scott said he's never had a plan for Social Security or Medicare to be cut despite a proposal he made last year that would call for all federal programs to expire every five years.
Democrats and Republicans are both saying social security and Medicare aren’t going anywhere.
But at the same time, both sides claim the other will make massive cuts.
“I’ve been clear. I will not reduce Social Security and Medicare benefits,” Scott said in an interview on CNN.
Scott said President Joe Biden purposely mislead Americans when he said certain Republicans want to sunset those programs.
“And I was clear in my plan that Congress needs to make sure that social security and Medicare survive. We got to tell them what we are going to do. All the recipients how we are going to do it. Does that sound like someone who wants to cut Medicare and Social Security?” said Scott.
But last year, Scott did propose a plan that all federal legislation would expire five years after passing unless reapproved.
Scott said legislation passed by the President will mean massive cuts from medicare.
But the Democrats say the bill actually saves people money by cutting the price of drugs.
“I don’t get why if one party proposes efficiency, that’s a cut. But if the other party does it, it’s not a cut,” Scott said in the CNN interview.
The Republican Study Committee did put out a budget plan that calls for making several changes to Social Security and Medicare that would amount to cutting the programs’ benefits for future senior citizens.
But that proposal and the one from Senator Scott didn’t make it far.
Both Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the programs wouldn’t be touched.
ABC Action News talked with attorney Trudy Smith, a surrogate for the Republican Party of Florida.
She told us that claims by the President are just an attempt to rile up voters.
“We know that the Democrats don’t have a good bench going into 2024. At least, that’s what the latest polling is showing. And in order to turn some of the most loyal Republican constituents against the Republican Party, to talk about something as important to them as Social Security and Medicare. And to make it seem like Republicans are against those interests, which we’re not. We are very much on board with keeping Social Security and Medicare,” said Smith.
Senator Scott also said to preserve Social Security and Medicare, Americans need to live within their means because there will come a time when we can’t borrow more money to pay for those programs.
He will be at an event in Sun City Center Friday to talk about how to preserve Social Security and Medicare.
