After years of supporting efforts to end Social Security and Medicare as we know them, Tim Scott is once again calling to gut these essential programs in his latest attempt to out-MAGA the rest of the 2024 Republican field. 

In a recent town hall in New Hampshire, Scott doubled down on his plan to slash essential programs that hardworking families and seniors rely on. 

Scott: “We also have to look at the overall entitlement state of our nation… In order for us to tame the tiger, we’re going to have to take a serious look at the overall entitlement state that we have.”

Scott has a yearslong history of coming for Social Security and Medicare. 

Scott: “The long-term challenges that we have in our entitlement programs — there’s no doubt that we have to wrestle this beast to the ground.”

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 [proposal to cut and privatize Medicare] when they were in Congress.”

Other members of the 2024 Republican field have also supported cuts to Social Security and Medicare. 

CNN: “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.”

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.”

Semafor: “Mike Pence isn’t running from his old fiscal conservatism. Instead, he’s seemingly leaning into it by talking about privatizing Social Security, an idea the party largely abandoned after a politically damaging push in 2005. ‘I think the day could come where we can replace the New Deal with a Better Deal,’ he said during an interview in February. ‘Literally give younger Americans the ability to take a portion of their Social Security withholdings and put that into a private savings account that the government would oversee.’”

Associated Press: “Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is proposing changes to entitlement programs for younger generations, opening the door to potential cuts to Social Security and Medicare if elected.”

Christie: “We’re going to have to reduce Medicare benefits. We’re going to have to reduce Medicaid benefits. We’re going to have to raise the Social Security age. We’re going to have to do these things. We’re going to have to cut all types of other government programs that some people in this room might like.”