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Republicans are far from done targeting Medicare, Social Security
Donald Trump claims Social Security and Medicare will be left alone. Congressional Republicans appear to have a very different agenda in mind.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3lcy5aazcik22
There's been plenty of talk about Trump vowing to leave Social Security and Medicare alone.
There's been far less discussion about his congressional Republican allies saying the opposite.
There's been far less discussion about his congressional Republican allies saying the opposite.
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republicans-are-far-done-targeting-medicare-social-security-rcna183593
Part of the problem is that there’s often an enormous gap between what the president-elect says he’ll do and what he actually does. Making matters worse, his record on the issue isn’t nearly as sterling as he likes to pretend.
And then, of course, there are congressional Republicans to consider.
Republican Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri appeared on Fox Business this week, for example, and talked about his ideas for tackling the national debt:
Literally one day after Trump said, in apparent reference to Social Security, that he’s against “raising ages or any of that stuff,” Alford went on to say during the same on-air interview, “[O]n the front end on Social Security, I think there’s a way, when people are living longer, they’re retiring later, then on the front end we can move that retirement age back a little bit.”.....
What’s more, my MSNBC colleague Ryan Teague Beckwith noted that Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah published a lengthy social media thread last week, questioning the constitutionality and practicality of Social Security, while comparing the program to a “Ponzi scheme.”
The claims were quickly amplified by conspiratorial billionaire Elon Musk, who’s helping lead the incoming White House’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
So where does that leave us? Americans can apparently listen to Trump, whose record on Social Security and Medicare is littered with contradictions and flip-flops, or they can listen to the president-elect’s allies, many of whom seem awfully eager to cut the popular social insurance programs now that Election Day has come and gone.
And then, of course, there are congressional Republicans to consider.
Republican Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri appeared on Fox Business this week, for example, and talked about his ideas for tackling the national debt:
And so we’ve got to right the ship, and it’s going to mean cuts. It’s going to mean cuts to the 24 percent of the discretionary spending that we have, and it’s also going to mean looking long-term at the front end of some programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Literally one day after Trump said, in apparent reference to Social Security, that he’s against “raising ages or any of that stuff,” Alford went on to say during the same on-air interview, “[O]n the front end on Social Security, I think there’s a way, when people are living longer, they’re retiring later, then on the front end we can move that retirement age back a little bit.”.....
What’s more, my MSNBC colleague Ryan Teague Beckwith noted that Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah published a lengthy social media thread last week, questioning the constitutionality and practicality of Social Security, while comparing the program to a “Ponzi scheme.”
The claims were quickly amplified by conspiratorial billionaire Elon Musk, who’s helping lead the incoming White House’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
So where does that leave us? Americans can apparently listen to Trump, whose record on Social Security and Medicare is littered with contradictions and flip-flops, or they can listen to the president-elect’s allies, many of whom seem awfully eager to cut the popular social insurance programs now that Election Day has come and gone.
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