DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans have a yearslong history of trying to end Social Security and Medicare as we know them – Trump even pushed cuts to these critical earned benefits in every single one of his budgets while in office. Trump and the GOP are still running on the same unpopular and extreme platform that would threaten the pocketbooks of America’s seniors, but voters aren’t fooled by their cruel agenda that would put millions of Americans’ hard-earned benefits at risk.”
Donald Trump owns his extreme record of proposing cuts to Medicare and Social Security programs in EVERY SINGLE ONE of his budgets.
Washington Post: “His avowed stance, however, is at odds with Trump’s own record as president: Each of his White House budget proposals included cuts to Social Security and Medicare programs.”
Vox: “Trump said he wouldn’t cut Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare. His 2020 budget cuts all 3.”
Trump’s FY18, FY19, FY20, and FY21 budgets each proposed billions of dollars in cuts to Social Security programs.
2019 and 2020: Trump proposed budgets that included hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare.
Trump said he would cut Social Security and Medicare in a second term in office – including threatening the programs’ financial standing by promising to permanently eliminate the taxes that fund both programs.
National Review: “Speaking with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump was asked whether he would cut entitlements at some point. ‘Will entitlements ever be on your plate?’ asked interviewer Joe Kernen. ‘At some point they will be,’ Trump responded. ‘At the right time, we will take a look at that. You know, that’s the easiest of all things [to cut].’”
CNN: “Trump now says he’s open to entitlement cuts, including Medicare”
Mediaite: “During a Fox News town hall, President Donald Trump promised to cut entitlements like Medicare and Social Security if he were to win a second term. … ‘But if you don’t cut something in entitlements, you will never really deal with the debt,’ town hall co-moderator Martha MacCallum interjected, alluding to social safety programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. ‘Oh, we’ll be cutting,’ Trump rushed to confirm.”
Washington Post: “President Trump pledged on Saturday to pursue a permanent cut to the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare if he wins reelection in November, a hard-to-accomplish political gambit that some experts see as a major headache for the future of the country’s entitlement programs.”
Trump: “If we win … the payroll tax will be rescinded.”
CNN: “Eliminating the payroll tax could deplete the Social Security trust fund within three years if there’s no alternative source of revenue, according to the agency’s chief actuary.”
Associated Press: “Trump, in effect, has proposed a dramatic restructuring of how Social Security is financed by not relying on the payroll tax as a dedicated source, but instead by tapping the general fund. … The risk is that the loss of a dedicated funding source could destabilize an anti-poverty program that provides payments to roughly 65 million Americans. It also could force people to cut back on the spending that drives growth so they can save for their own retirement and health care needs if they believe the government backstop is in jeopardy. … It is highly unlikely that economic growth would be enough to offset the loss of the payroll tax. Indeed, Trump suggested that his 2017 income tax cuts would propel economic growth as high as 6% annually. That never happened.”
Trump has made calls to privatize Social Security and even praised Republicans as they pushed plans to end Medicare as we know it.
CNN: “Trump previously backed policies on Social Security for which he’s now attacking DeSantis, calling the program a ‘Ponzi scheme’”
“Former President Donald Trump once backed raising the retirement age to 70 and called for privatizing Social Security which he called a ‘Ponzi scheme’ – two positions he has hammered Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for supporting as a former member of Congress and congressional candidate. … but a CNN KFile review found Trump himself also once praised Ryan on Medicare, along with the 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, without praising their specific policy proposal, which called for similar changes to Ryan’s plan.”
MAGA Republicans’ plan to gut Social Security and Medicare is highly unpopular with Americans.
Fox News: “Fox News Poll: 71% choose funding Social Security, Medicare over budget cuts”
Sahil Kapur, NBC News: “Digging deeper into this @FoxNews finding. Support for funding entitlements like Social Security & Medicare over reducing deficits is overwhelming with the GOP base:
Republicans 59-38%
Trump voters 59-37%
Conservatives 60-36%
Rural voters 70-26%
White non-college voters 73%-24%”
CNN: “Nearly 67 million Americans have received monthly Social Security benefits this year, and more than 66 million people are enrolled in Medicare. Polling shows little support for major changes to the programs themselves to help shore up their finances.
“A March CNN/SSRS poll of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, for instance, found that 59% said it was ‘essential’ that the GOP nominee for president ‘pledges to maintain Social Security and Medicare as they are.’”
Associated Press: “Most oppose Social Security, Medicare cuts: AP-NORC poll”
Axios: “Nearly 9 in 10 Americans say they oppose reducing spending on Social Security or Medicare, according to new polling from our Axios-Ipsos Two Americas Index.”