As Mike Pence travels to Virginia to remind Americans that Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare, DNC spokesperson Rhyan Lake released the following statement:

“We’re glad Mike Pence is taking the time to remind the American people that every single 2024 Republican, including Donald Trump, has supported or proposed cuts to Medicare and Social Security. As 2024 Republicans battle to out-MAGA each other, every GOP contender will have to answer for their plans to gut these programs and end Medicare and Social Security as we know it.”

Let’s be clear: Every year he was in office, Mike Pence stood behind Donald Trump’s budget proposals that called for cuts to Medicare and Social Security programs. 

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.”

As the GOP’s messy primary only becomes more extreme, every 2024 Republican hopeful has supported plans to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block. 

Axios (January 2020): “Asked by CNBC Wednesday if cuts to entitlements would now be something he’d consider, Trump responded: ‘At the right time, we will take a look at that.’”

NHJournal: “On entitlement programs, [Nikki Haley] says ‘you have to look at entitlements.’ ‘Let’s not dig our head in the sand and say ‘we’re not going to do anything about entitlements,’ we have to.’”

CNN: “A CNN KFile review of comments from DeSantis’ 2012 congressional campaign found he repeatedly said he supported plans to replace Medicare with a system in which the government paid for partial costs of private plans or a traditional Medicare plan. In one interview with a local newspaper, DeSantis said he supported ‘the same thing’ for Social Security, citing the need for ‘market forces’ to restructure the program.”

Washington Post: “Other potential entrants in the Republican primary, such as former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) and South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, also voted for Ryan’s budget when they were in Congress.

“‘There’s no doubt that we have to wrestle this beast to the ground and do the right thing,’ Scott said on Fox News in 2012. ‘The fact is that if we don’t start having a real conversation about people in their 40s and younger about the transformation of the system, it won’t be available for folks now in their 20s and 30s.’”