In response to Medicare and Social Security solvency being extended thanks to President Biden’s leadership, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“While President Biden is protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, Donald Trump and the rest of the MAGA GOP are openly laying out their plans to threaten millions of Americans’ pocketbooks. MAGA Republicans in Congress are already trying to raise the retirement age as part of their plan to gut these programs and leave seniors high and dry after Trump proposed cuts to Social Security programs every single year he was in office. The American people know that a vote for MAGA Republicans is a vote to end Social Security and Medicare as we know them – and that President Biden will always fight for America’s seniors.”

NEW: President Biden’s agenda to strengthen Social Security and Medicare and protect these programs from GOP attacks is delivering results. 

New York Times: “U.S. Labor Market Strength Steadied Social Security and Medicare Funds”

“The financial health of Social Security and Medicare, two of the nation’s most crucial safety net programs, has improved this year as a stronger-than-expected U.S. economy attracted more workers to the labor market, buttressing funding for the critical programs.

“The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which covers hospital care for Medicare patients, will be unable to pay all its bills beginning in 2036, five years later than the trustees had estimated last year.”

The Hill: “Social Security funds to last longer than expected thanks to sturdy economy”

The Republican Study Committee – which represents 80% of House Republicans, including every House GOP leader – is proposing an extreme and unpopular budget that mirrors Donald Trump’s efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare.

Bloomberg: “Republicans Call for Retirement Age Hike in Clash With Biden”

Vox: “The Republican Study Committee (RSC) — a caucus that represents 80 percent of House Republicans, including the party’s entire leadership — unveiled a budget that calls for cutting Social Security benefits.” 

HuffPost: “Republican Study Committee Budget Includes Social Security Benefit Cuts”

NBC News: “House Republican budget calls for raising the retirement age for Social Security”

Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson is a member and former chair of the RSC and has pushed extreme proposals to slash Social Security and Medicare. 

CNN: “Here’s why Social Security and Medicare advocates fear Mike Johnson’s speakership”

“In one of his first moves after being elected House speaker, Mike Johnson promised to form a bipartisan debt commission to tackle what he termed “the greatest threat to our national security. The announcement sent shivers down the spines of advocates for Social Security and Medicare. … ‘The new speaker has made it clear he’s not a friend to seniors, Social Security or Medicare,’ said Max Richtman, CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. ‘His answer to Social Security’s long-range solvency is cutting benefits.’”

Johnson: “We have to get back to [entitlement reform] as the number one priority.”

Semafor: “These days, the RSC is best known around Washington as a GOP policy shop responsible for crafting proposals to balance the federal budget, often through changes and cuts to Social Security and Medicare.” 

“The Conservative Playbook” by the RSC, led by Chairman Mike Johnson in the 116th Congress: “With our entitlement programs facing dire financial futures and more Americans receiving welfare benefits than ever before, we cannot afford to waste money simply because the federal bureaucracy writes checks to the wrong people or for the wrong amount.” 

REMINDER: Trump said that “there is a lot you can do” to cut Social Security and Medicare – programs that millions of American families rely on.

Joe Kernen, CNBC: “Have you changed your outlook on how to handle entitlements, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid?”

Trump: “So first of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting.”

Vox: “Trump just opened the door to Social Security cuts. Take him seriously.”

Forbes: “Trump Floats ‘Cutting’ Spending On Entitlements Like Social Security And Medicare”

Rolling Stone: “Trump Floats Cuts to Social Security and Medicare”

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 has repeatedly promised to try to cut Social Security and Medicare if he regains power.

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.”

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.”

Trump and MAGA Republicans’ plan to gut Social Security and Medicare is highly unpopular with Americans across the political spectrum. 

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.”