For most Americans, Social Security will play an important role during their retirement. According to a 2022 Gallup survey, 89% of existing retired workers lean on their monthly Social Security payout to cover their expenses. For the 20 years Gallup has conducted its annual survey, at least 80% of seniors have noted that Social Security is, to some degree, a necessary income source.
Unfortunately, this financial lifeline for so many retirees, survivors of deceased workers, and workers with disabilities, is facing its own financial turmoil. In order for Social Security to be shored up for future generations, elected lawmakers are going to have to act sooner than later -- and it all starts at the top with President Joe Biden.
President Joe Biden delivering remarks. Image source: Official White House photo by Katie Ricks.
Social Security is contending with a long-term funding shortfall in excess of $20 trillion
For more than eight decades, Social Security has, without fail, paid retired worker benefits and provided some level of financial foundation for those who can no longer work. But in 2021, the program's pendulum swung the wrong direction for the first time in nearly four decades. More specifically, it paid out more in benefits than was collected in revenue.
This shift from Social Security consistently bringing in more revenue than it pays out is the result of numerous demographic changes taking shape. Some of these you're probably familiar with, such as baby boomers leaving the workforce in greater numbers. But other changes might not be so readily apparent.
Other demographic changes that are adversely impacting Social Security include a near-halving in net immigration into the country since mid-1997, historically low birth rates in the U.S., and growing income inequality.
Since 1985, the annually released Social Security Board of Trustees Report has predicted that there wouldn't be enough revenue collected by the program over the next 75 years (following the release of each report) to cover outgoing benefits. As of the 2022 Report, Social Security's long-term funding shortfall stood at a staggering $20.4 trillion.
Based on estimates provided by the Trustees, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund (OASI), which is responsible for doling out checks to 48.5 million retired workers each month, is facing a potential benefit cut of 23% by 2034 if lawmakers fail to make changes to the program.
However, President Biden believes he has the solution.
President Biden wants to increase taxes on high earners to strengthen Social Security
Prior to being elected president in November 2020, Biden released a four-point proposal designed to strengthen Social Security for future generations. This included changing the program's measure of inflation, boosting the primary insurance amount (PIA) for beneficiaries from ages of 78 through 82, and increasing the special minimum benefit. But the flagship change offered in Biden's Social Security plan is to increase payroll taxation on the rich.
In 2023, all earned income between $0.01 and $160,200 is subject to Social Security's 12.4% payroll tax. By "earned income," I mean wages and salary, but not investment income. If you work for a company or someone else, you and your employer split the liability for this tax down the middle (6.2% each). If you're self-employed, you owe the entirety of the 12.4%.
Approximately 94% of working Americans earns less than the maximum taxable earnings cap (the $160,200 figure). Put another way, 94% of workers are paying into Social Security with every dollar they earn this year. On the other hand, roughly 6% of high earners are expected to top $160,200 in earned income in 2023. All wages and salary above this threshold are exempted from the payroll tax.
Based on data from the Social Security Administration, the percentage of earned income subject to Social Security's payroll tax has declined from 90% in 1983 to just 81.4% as of 2021. As noted by a recently published blog from the Economic Policy Institute, that's the lowest level of earnings being subjected to the payroll tax in 49 years. More importantly, it's confirmation that wage growth for high-earning workers is outpacing the near-annual increase in the maximum taxable earnings cap for Social Security's payroll tax.
The solution offered by then-presidential-candidate Biden was to reinstate the payroll tax on earned income above $400,000, while creating a doughnut hole between the maximum taxable earnings cap and $400,000 where earnings would remain exempt. Over many decades, this doughnut hole would completely close as the maximum taxable earnings cap rises with the National Average Wage Index.
Biden's proposal, if passed, would immediately boost revenue for Social Security, with the goal of pushing back the OASI's potential asset reserve depletion date well beyond 2034.
Image source: Getty Images.
Would taxing the rich really save Social Security?
On paper, increasing taxation on a larger percentage of earned income sounds like an easy solution to strengthen Social Security. The question is, "Would it work?"
In October 2020, Washington, D.C.-based think tank Urban Institute examined Joe Biden's various Social Security and Supplemental Security Income proposals and estimated their impact on the program. According to the findings, Biden's proposal would close around a quarter of Social Security's long-term funding shortfall. However, the solvency of the asset reserves would only be extended by about five years.
Although taxing the rich would, indeed, raise a lot of extra revenue for Social Security, Biden's other reforms would offset most of this boost. Altering the program's inflationary tether to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E) would lead to higher annual cost-of-living adjustments. Additionally, increasing the PIA for older beneficiaries, as well as the special minimum benefit, reduces the impact of raising payroll taxes on high earners.
The other dilemma with increasing payroll taxation on the rich is that they're arguably already paying their fair share.
Social Security retirement benefits are calculated based on earned income up to the maximum taxable earnings cap in a given year. Likewise, maximum retirement benefits are capped at full retirement age ($3,627 per month in 2023). Hypothetically speaking, you could earn $10 million a year for the 35 years the Social Security Administration takes into account when calculating your retirement benefit, but your maximum monthly benefit wouldn't exceed $3,627 at full retirement age in 2023. In other words, it doesn't make a lot of sense to tax earned income that has no bearing on a worker's retirement benefit.
While some form of higher taxation will likely be needed to strengthen Social Security in the coming years, simply "taxing the rich" as the sole solution isn't going to fix Social Security or come anywhere close to resolving its $20.4 trillion funding shortfall.
Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has amended his plan to overhaul how the federal government works after Democrats, including President Biden, repeatedly invoked it to accuse Republicans of looking to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits.
Scott unveiled his original plan last year when serving as chair of the campaign committee for Senate Republicans. It called for all federal legislation to sunset in five years, and if a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.
His revised plan specifies exceptions for Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans benefits, and other essential services. The change comes as Democrats work to drive a wedge between GOP lawmakers and their base of older voters who rely on government programs for income and health insurance.
Mr. Biden held up a pamphlet of Scott's original plan when he visited the senator's home state of Florida last week, saying, "I know that a lot of Republicans — their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare. If that's your dream, I'm your nightmare."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has also been highlighting Scott's proposals to criticize the GOP's budgetary demands. And Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, has consistently sought to distance Senate Republicans from Scott, telling reporters this week: "Let me say one more time, there is no agenda on the part of Senate Republicans to revisit Medicare or Social Security, period."
Scott's new plan takes a shot at his critics, saying in bold typeface: "Note to President Biden, Sen. Schumer, and Sen. McConnell – As you know, this was never intended to apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the US Navy."
Scott explained the changes he made in a Washington Examiner op-ed that lashed out at Mr. Biden as well as McConnell.
"I have never supported cutting Social Security or Medicare, ever. To say otherwise is a disingenuous Democrat lie from a very confused president. And Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is also well aware of that. It's shallow gotcha politics, which is what Washington does," Scott wrote.
The White House wasn't buying Scott's explanation, though. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said cutting Medicare and Social Security was a "longstanding passion" for Scott.
"Make no mistake, his true colors are undeniable and on the record," Jean-Pierre said.
McConnell and Scott have been at odds for some time now. Scott challenged McConnell in November to become the chamber's minority leader, but McConnell easily prevailed in the first attempt to oust him. The vote was 37-10, senators said, with one other senator voting present.
House Republicans have been calling for reducing government spending as part of any agreement to increase the nation's borrowing authority in the coming months. Democrats have been calling for a clean debt ceiling with no strings attached and are challenging Republicans to spell out any cuts they propose to make. Scott's overhaul Friday signals the difficulty Republicans will have in answering that challenge.
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Associated Press staff writer Christopher Megerian contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — As the 2022 midterm election campaign took shape, Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, ordered a favorite book distributed to staffers at the National Republican Senatorial Committee as he took charge of the operation. It was “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
“I’ll bet I have given out 7,000 or 8,000 copies,” said Mr. Scott, a devoted fan of the classic self-improvement book. “I go back and read it every two or three years because it makes you just think about how to work with people.”
Whatever Mr. Scott gleaned over the years from its author, Dale Carnegie, it has not worked on Mitch McConnell and some of his other colleagues. Mr. Scott, the former two-term governor of Florida, is engaged in a nasty feud with Mr. McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader, with implications for both the Senate and national politics.
Despite repeated repudiation by Mr. McConnell, the campaign manifesto that Mr. Scott issued last year that called for sunsetting every federal program — without exceptions for Social Security and Medicare — has made him a prime target of President Biden and left members of his party squirming as Democrats zero in on it as proof that Republicans want to gut federal programs for seniors.
Mr. McConnell was forced to reiterate once again this week that, no matter what Mr. Scott once said, Republicans want to do no such thing.
“Let me say one more time,” he told reporters, “there is no agenda on the part of Senate Republicans to revisit Medicare or Social Security. Period.”
That criticism was restrained compared to what Mr. McConnell said last week, when he practically invited electoral opposition for Mr. Scott, who will be on the ballot next year.
The 118th Congress is underway, with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats holding the Senate.
“I think it will be a challenge for him to deal with this in his own re-election in Florida, a state with more elderly people than any other state in America,” Mr. McConnell said during a Kentucky radio interview, an unusual case of a party leader underscoring the potential political vulnerability of one of his incumbents.
Undeterred, Mr. Scott began fund-raising off of Mr. McConnell’s attack. And he has refused to back down from the statement that prompted it. He says the nation’s mounting debt is so dangerous that it is irresponsible not to talk about the entirety of government spending, though he now says his main goal is to protect, not undercut, Social Security.
“We are in trouble,” he said. “I don’t get why people are not panic about $31.5 trillion worth of debt. We are putting ourselves in horrible financial shape to make sure we have money for the military, for Social Security, Medicare, all these things. I am going to keep fighting for what I believe in.”
The fight has been an unwelcome distraction and generated internal sniping among Republicans, some of whom were once strong advocates for overhauling entitlement programs but have more recently turned away from the idea, following the lead of former President Donald J. Trump, who vowed during his 2016 campaign to protect Social Security and Medicare from cuts. It has been a gift for Democrats, providing them new opportunities to remind voters that Mr. Scott, as the head of an official Republican campaign group, proposed subjecting Social Security to elimination and renewal every five years along with all federal programs.
Mr. Biden’s mention of the plan set off an uproar at his State of the Union address, as Republicans accused him of lying about their position on entitlement programs.
“President Biden pointed out the obvious: that many within their own party have been very open about wanting to target Social Security and Medicare,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said this week. “Rick Scott being among them, and he was the leader of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.”
How Times reporters cover politics. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause.
The intramural Republican dispute began last year, when Mr. McConnell declined to offer a midterm campaign agenda for his party and Mr. Scott came up with one of his own. In it was a provision that stated: “All federal legislation sunsets in five years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.”
Many Senate Republicans immediately viewed the plan as an enormous political blunder. Mr. McConnell dismissed it, but the words were not so easily erased from the internet.
At the White House, Mr. Biden’s top aides could not believe their luck. They scoured the document, assuming there would be an asterisk or some sort of escape hatch for Mr. Scott exempting popular programs like Medicare and Social Security. They found none.
Mr. Biden quickly jumped on the proposal, adding it to his stump speech as he campaigned for Democratic candidates during the midterm elections. When Mr. Biden spoke to a crowd in Florida recently, the White House placed a glossy pamphlet of the Scott plan on the seat of every attendee.
Allies of Mr. McConnell say one of the main reasons for his aggressive pushback to Mr. Scott in accurate days is that he saw how Democrats benefited from political attacks tied to the Social Security proposal in states such as Pennsylvania and Nevada, which Senate Republicans had high hopes of winning last year but ultimately lost.
They say Mr. McConnell wants to make sure that Mr. Scott’s plan is thoroughly discredited before 2024, when Republicans will again have a strong chance of taking the Senate. They also say that Mr. Scott’s recent insistence that he would never tamper with Social Security or Medicare is proof that he recognizes he made a significant mistake last year.
Mr. Trump weighed in on the divide on Wednesday. In a rare moment of agreement with Mr. McConnell, Mr. Trump used his Truth Social platform to warn Mr. Scott: “Be careful, Rick, and most importantly fight for Social Security and Medicare. THERE WILL BE NO CUTS.”
Elected in 2018 by defeating the Democratic incumbent, Bill Nelson, Mr. Scott is an enigma to many of his colleagues. They were flabbergasted when, after presiding over the loss of a Senate seat in what was expected to be a strong Republican year, he challenged Mr. McConnell for the party leadership last year instead of retreating into the background.
Mr. McConnell handily defeated him and then bounced him from the Commerce Committee to make room for newly elected Republicans. Several Republicans also said privately that they saw his fund-raising off the contretemps as objectionable.
But his colleagues say Mr. Scott is never going to be one to go along to get along.
“He is not confined to the family tree,” said Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota. “He’s always been kind of independent of the party but also always Republican. I don’t question his patriotism to the elephant, but he has never been tethered to the machinery.”
Mr. Cramer and others acknowledged that Mr. Scott had sorely tested Mr. McConnell’s patience.
“When you get into political points of view that are different, when you are willing to buck city hall, you are going to get into spats like that,” said Senator Mike Braun, Republican of Indiana.
Others who backed his challenge to Mr. McConnell say they were disappointed when the minority leader publicly questioned Mr. Scott’s political strength.
“Republican leadership ought to be supportive of our senators up for re-election,” said Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin.
Despite the internal tension and his new prominence as a Democratic talking point, Mr. Scott said he did not to plan to change course and didn’t seem very panic about Mr. McConnell’s assessment of his political prospects.
“I am never going to be part of the establishment,” he said. “I am going to keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
“I am going to run my race,” he added. “I’ve won three hard races. I will win again.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has amended his plan to overhaul how the federal government works after Democrats, including President Joe Biden, repeatedly invoked it to accuse Republicans of looking to cut Medicare and Social Security.
Scott unveiled his original plan last year when serving as chair of the campaign committee for Senate Republicans. It called for all federal legislation to sunset in five years, and if a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.
His revised plan specifies exceptions for Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans benefits, and other essential services. The change comes as Democrats work to drive a wedge between GOP lawmakers and their base of older voters who rely on government programs for income and health insurance.
Biden held up a pamphlet of Scott’s original plan when he visited the senator’s home state of Florida last week, saying “I know that a lot of Republicans — their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare. If that’s your dream, I’m your nightmare.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has also been highlighting Scott’s proposals to criticize the GOP’s budgetary demands. And Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has consistently sought to distance Senate Republicans from Scott, telling reporters this week: “Let me say one more time, there is no agenda on the part of Senate Republicans to revisit Medicare or Social Security, period.”
WATCH: How Biden reignited debate over Social Security and Medicare during his State of the Union
Scott’s new plan takes a shot at his critics, saying in bold typeface: “Note to President Biden, Sen. Schumer, and Sen. McConnell – As you know, this was never intended to apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the US Navy.”
Scott explained the changes he made in a Washington Examiner op-ed that lashed out at Biden as well as McConnell.
“I have never supported cutting Social Security or Medicare, ever. To say otherwise is a disingenuous Democrat lie from a very confused president. And Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is also well aware of that. It’s shallow gotcha politics, which is what Washington does,” Scott wrote.
The White House wasn’t buying Scott’s explanation, though. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said cutting Medicare and Social Security was a “longstanding passion” for Scott.
“Make no mistake, his true colors are undeniable and on the record,” Jean-Pierre said.
McConnell and Scott have been at odds for some time now. Scott challenged McConnell in November to become the chamber’s minority leader, but McConnell easily prevailed in the first attempt to oust him. The vote was 37-10, senators said, with one other senator voting present.
House Republicans have been calling for reducing government spending as part of any agreement to increase the nation’s borrowing authority in the coming months. Democrats have been calling for a clean debt ceiling with no strings attached and are challenging Republicans to spell out any cuts they propose to make. Scott’s overhaul Friday signals the difficulty Republicans will have in answering that challenge.
Associated Press staff writer Christopher Megerian contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — Senator Rick Scott of Florida finally recognized this week what leading figures in his party had been telling him for a year: Most Republicans no longer wish to discuss cutting Social Security and Medicare as a way to balance the federal budget and bring down the soaring debt.
After decades of talk of scaling back the popular — and increasingly expensive — federal entitlement programs for older Americans, Republicans have for now abandoned that approach. It is an acknowledgment of the political risks of shrinking benefits relied on by millions of voters.
The capitulation by Mr. Scott, who on Friday relented and explicitly walled off Social Security and Medicare from his proposal to terminate all federal programs every five years and subject them to congressional review, was the latest evidence that Republicans would be looking elsewhere for savings in a coming showdown with the White House and congressional Democrats.
The hardening position of the party will significantly affect the dynamic around seeking spending cuts in exchange for raising the federal debt limit later this year by focusing much of the scrutiny instead on domestic spending, foreign aid and other safety-net programs such as Medicaid and food stamps.
The shift comes as it has grown increasingly clear that Social Security and Medicare are unsustainable in their current form; new forecasts from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released this week showed spending growth on the programs rapidly outpacing the growth in federal tax revenues over the next decade, as a wave of baby boomers reach retirement age and begin to tap their benefits.
“The political rhetoric surrounding the issue is completely at odds with the reality,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Center for a Responsible Budget. “If we do nothing, there will be brutal across-the-board cuts in Social Security benefits and to providers in Medicare.”
It is a sharp reversal for Republicans who previously have regularly pursued “privatization” of both Social Security and Medicare to reduce federal red ink by shifting more responsibility and costs on to those covered by the programs — efforts that largely failed after running into a political buzz saw. The evolution in the longtime position has been accelerated by warnings from Donald J. Trump, the former president and current presidential candidate, that Republicans should not touch either program — and that they will hear from him if they do.
Mr. Scott said the agenda he issued early last year, as the chairman of the Senate Republican campaign arm, was never intended to propose cuts in the popular retirement programs, although he did not include any carveout for either in his plan.
Mr. Scott has argued that his ideas were purposefully mischaracterized by President Biden as well as Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, as cutting Social Security and Medicare, when his goal was to protect them.
Still, in a tacit concession that he had erred, Mr. Scott wrote in an opinion essay in The Washington Examiner on Friday that he was amending the proposal he made as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee to exclude “Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans’ benefits and other essential services” from the requirement for a five-year review.
“That plank of my Rescue America plan was obviously not intended to include entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security — programs that hard-working people have paid into their entire lives — or the funds dedicated to our national security,” Mr. Scott wrote.
Mr. Biden infuriated Republicans at his State of the Union address last week, when he cited Mr. Scott’s plan as evidence that the G.O.P. would take aim at Social Security in its push to cut spending in exchange for agreeing to raise the federal debt limit this year. The White House on Friday saw Mr. Scott’s change in his manifesto as an admission that Mr. Biden was correct when he accused the Floridian and other Republicans of targeting Social Security.
“The president congratulates Senator Scott on joining the post-State of the Union red wave of Republicans acknowledging that they have, in fact, been attempting to put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block,” said Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman.
How Times reporters cover politics. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause.
Mr. McConnell disavowed the Scott proposal from the start, saying it was Mr. Scott’s idea alone and did not represent the view of Senate Republicans. The minority leader reiterated that position again this week when he was asked about his feud with Mr. Scott over the proposal.
“As you recall, there was some confusion last year about what the agenda of the Republican Senate might be if we were in the majority,” Mr. McConnell told reporters. “And I made it quite clear that as the likely majority leader, I had hoped at that time, Social Security and Medicare were not on our agenda, period.”
But Mr. Scott’s internally elected position as the chairman of the campaign committee gave the proposal heft since his role was to advise and bolster Republican Senate candidates. Mr. McConnell and others have said the proposal gave Democrats political ammunition that hurt Republicans’ chances for Senate seats in Nevada and Pennsylvania, among other places.
Social Security has long been considered the “third rail” of American politics, with the risk of severe political harm to those who would dare touch it. President George W. Bush in 2005 proposed letting younger workers direct some of their Social Security payments into private investment accounts, but Republicans were divided and Democrats united against it. The plan fizzled and Democrats regained control of Congress the next year. Other Republican-led efforts have met a similar fate and prompted similar political fallout.
Given the slim odds of success, some fiscal conservatives welcomed the strategic shift away from revisiting entitlement programs, saying it would clear the way for a debate around spending cuts that could be attainable.
“It’s such a necessary corrective to the debate we have had,” said Russ Vought, a former Trump administration budget director and head of the arch-conservative Center for Renewing America. “We’re not going to get it. So we are going to come away with no savings. It would be a political challenge and we come out with some commission to study it.” And, he added, “Republicans would be bloodied by it.”
Though Mr. Scott insisted he was never interested in cutting the programs, he said as recently as this week that it would be irresponsible not to look at all federal spending given the nation’s mounting debt. He reiterated that point in the opinion essay.
“I proposed that we sunset federal programs every five years so that Congress is forced to review ridiculous spending programs, analyze whether they’re working or not and reauthorize the ones that are,” Mr. Scott wrote. “It’s common sense to every single person in the country except the politicians, bureaucrats and lobbyists who get rich off the government gravy train that’s led to $32 trillion in debt.”
He accused Mr. Biden and Mr. McConnell of playing “shallow gotcha politics” in attacking his proposal.
“I have never supported cutting Social Security or Medicare, ever,” Mr. Scott wrote. “To say otherwise is a disingenuous Democrat lie from a very confused president. And Senator Mitch McConnell is also well aware of that.”
While the position of congressional Republicans seems set against exploring Social Security and Medicare cuts, not all in the party are ready to deliver up on exploring ways to overhaul the programs.
As she began her presidential campaign this week, Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, said “you have to look at entitlements,” though she also said Americans must get the benefits they were promised. Former Vice President Mike Pence, on Fox News, also raised the idea of letting younger workers invest some employment taxes in private accounts — a program similar to the failed Bush initiative.
The decision to sideline the benefit programs in the budget debate worries some, given that the programs are unsustainable in their current trajectory and will need adjustments.
“Are we just going to lie to the American public and say Social Security and Medicare will be fine if you don’t do anything with them?” asked Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota. “The longer we wait, the more dramatic the fix will be. It is the driver of the debt.”
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., has amended his contentious plan to sunset federal legislation every five years to include exceptions for Medicare and Social Security after months-long criticism from both parties.
The change comes just over a week after President Joe Biden's State of the Union address, when he called out Republicans over Scott's proposal. Scott and other Republicans criticized Biden over the comments, claiming the party had no intention to sunset the programs.
Scott's "Rescue America" plan would have required all federal legislation to be renewed every five years, and while Medicare and Social Security were never explicitly mentioned, Democrats pointed out that both programs would be affected.
The new version of Scott's plan reads: "All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years, with specific exceptions of Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans benefits, and other essential services. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pushed back on the plan since it was first introduced last year and stated last week that Scott was not speaking on behalf of all Republicans on the issue.
"It's clearly the Rick Scott plan. It is not the Republican plan. And that's the view of the speaker of the House as well," McConnell told Kentucky radio host Terry Meiners.
During his State of the Union address, Biden mentioned that the GOP wanted to sunset Social Security and Medicare, drawing heckles from Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who called him a "liar."
"As we all apparently agree: Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right?" Biden said in response to the jeers, prompting applause from the GOP. "We've got unanimity!"
"It looks like we negotiated a deal last night," Biden said in Wisconsin the next day, referring to the exchange.
"A Senator from Florida is in hot water right now because of his plan to sunset Medicare and Social Security every 5 years," Biden tweeted on Thursday. While the programs are still on the table, The Washington Post reports that the federal government will have a hard time keeping them afloat after 2028 and 2035, when funding runs out. Republicans have opposed tax increases to keep the programs going, which Biden will likely propose in his upcoming budget to keep Medicare functioning.
Scott responded to Biden's comments by calling on him to resign in an ad, and telling CNN that he does not support cutting the programs.
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Former Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., called the quiet change an "embarrassing reversal" for Scott that "can only be interpreted as a huge political victory for Joe Biden."
"Going into debt ceiling talks, Republicans have now been castrated on the issue," he added. "Just a remarkably quick victory by the President."
Igor Bobic, a senior politics reporter at HuffPost noted that "this is actually the second time Rick Scott has amended his plan after bipartisan blowback. The first reversal was after he called for a tax hike on low-income working families."
MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan also pointed out how Scott backtracked on the issue.
"Why did he feel the need to exempt them from his sunsetting plan if they were never part of it? Oh wait! They were!" he wrote. "The White House was right and Rick Scott was… gaslighting us."
Read more
about Rick Scott's plan
CNN —
Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has revised his much-maligned proposal to sunset all federal programs in five years, after absorbing weeks of criticism from Democrats and even his own party, by adding an exemption for Medicare and Social Security.
The updated version of Scott’s “Rescue America” plan now says: “All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years, with specific exceptions of Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans benefits, and other essential services.”
The previous version of the proposal included no such exemption and instead declared: “If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.”
Democrats and Republicans had pointed out that such a provision could have endangered the popular entitlement programs. President Joe Biden seized on the proposal in his State of the Union address earlier this month and attempted to tie Republicans to Scott’s idea, leading to an animated back-and-forth with GOP lawmakers during his speech.
Biden in Florida last week continued to hammer Scott, telling supporters, “The very idea the senator from Florida wants to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every five years I find to be somewhat outrageous.”
The criticism of Scott’s plan wasn’t limited to Democrats. Last week, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell told a Kentucky radio station that the Florida senator’s proposal was “just a bad idea.”
“I think it will be a challenge for him to deal with this in his own reelection in Florida, a state with more elderly people than any other state in America,” McConnell said.
Scott has stumbled to defend his proposal, repeatedly claiming that Biden and Democrats have misrepresented his plan. His revised Rescue America blueprint included a shot at Biden, McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in bold typeface.
“Note to President Biden, Sen. Schumer, and Sen. McConnell – As you know, this was never intended to apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the US Navy,” the plan now says.
The revision marks the second time Scott has been forced to adjust his plan amid criticism from both sides of the aisle. He previously dropped a proposal to require all Americans to pay at least some federal income tax, which could have forced low-income earners to pay taxes, as well as those in the middle class who have reduced their income tax burden to zero through various deductions.
In its place, Scott added a new requirement: “Able-bodied Americans under 60, who do not have young children or incapacitated dependents, should work. We need them pulling the wagon and paying taxes, not sitting at home taking money from the government.”
Scott was chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of the Senate GOP, at the time he released his Rescue America plan. He said the proposal was his own and didn’t reflect the views of the Senate Republican Conference. Nevertheless, he said he introduced it to deliver Republicans a platform to run on in the 2022 midterm elections, suggesting party leadership wasn’t presenting voters with ideas for what the GOP stood for.
“Some Republicans are also going to complain about our plan,” Scott told a crowd at last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. “They’ll argue that Democrats will use it against us in the election. I hope they do. Because my response is, ‘Bring it on.’”
McConnell, anticipating the potential fallout from the idea in the midterms, immediately distanced his party from Scott’s blueprint not long after he had unveiled it.
“Let me tell you what would not be a part of our agenda,” the Kentucky Republican said at a news conference last March. “We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people, and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years.”
Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott “put it down in black and white” that he doesn’t support sunsetting Social Security and Medicare as part of his ambitious plan to slash federal spending.
Scott amended his Rescue America plan on Friday to exclude Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans’ benefits, and other essential services from his proposal to sunset federal programs every five years and force Congress to pass legislation to reauthorize them.
“That plank of my Rescue America plan was obviously not intended to include entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security — programs that hard-working people have paid into their entire lives — or the funds dedicated to our national security,” Scott wrote in an op-ed published by the Washington Examiner on Friday.
“So, since the folks up here are clearly too confused and disingenuous to get it, I’ll put it down in black and white so they can read it, or have someone read it to them,” Scott added.
“I believe that all federal legislation should sunset in five years, with specific exceptions for Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans’ benefits, and other essential services. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” he clarified.
Scott’s original plan never directly called for an end to Social Security and Medicare, but it did specifically exempt those programs until the changes he made on Friday, reflected on a website dedicated to his Rescue America proposal.
President Biden appeared to call out Scott’s plan during his State of the Union address earlier this month, outraging Republicans who either believed Biden was misrepresenting the proposal or unfairly accusing Republicans of supporting Scott’s plan.
“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset,” Biden claimed amid an uproar from the GOP side of the House chamber.
“I’m not saying it’s a majority,” Biden added as GOP members heckled him.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested after the State of the Union this month that Scott’s plan was in fact looking to sunset popular entitlement programs, and he disavowed it.
“That’s not a Republican plan. That was the Rick Scott plan,” McConnell told a Kentucky radio station.
“It’s just a bad idea. I think it will be a challenge for him [Scott] to deal with this in his own re-election in Florida, a state with more elderly people than any other state in America,” McConnell added.
In his op-ed, Scott took aim at McConnell for apparently misunderstanding his Rescue America agenda.
“I have never supported cutting Social Security or Medicare, ever. To say otherwise is a disingenuous Democrat lie from a very confused president. And Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is also well aware of that. It’s shallow gotcha politics, which is what Washington does,” Scott said.
The battle between Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott continued Friday as Scott updated his much-criticized plan -- calling for all federal programs to "sunset in five years" unless there's a vote to renew them -- to pointedly exempt Social Security and Medicare.
As he did so, Scott, the former chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, name-checked McConnell as well as President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer who have used it to attack Republicans.
"All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years, with specific exceptions of Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans benefits, and other essential services. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again. Note to President Biden, Sen. Schumer, and Sen. McConnell -- As you know, this was never intended to apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the US Navy," Scott's website was updated to say.
The change in language comes as Scott and McConnell have become increasingly at odds after Scott challenged McConnell for party leadership late last year. His bid to unseat McConnell failed during a closed-door vote of Senate Republicans.
Sen. Rick Scott heads to a briefing at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Feb. 15, 2023.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
The White House responded Friday to Scott's changes, criticizing Scott for claiming Social Security hadn't been at risk under his original plan.
“We congratulate Senator Scott on joining the post-State of the Union red wave of Republicans acknowledging that they have, in fact, been attempting to put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block. For the past year he has explained the absence of an exception by saying, ‘If it's worth keeping, we're going to keep it.’" White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement.
"But make no mistake, his true colors are undeniable and on the record. Cutting Medicare and Social Security benefits is a longstanding passion of Senator Scott’s, as it is for the majority of House Republicans who comprise the Republican Study Committee and many of his Senate colleagues, ranging from John Thune to Ron Johnson ... We thank Senator Scott for continuing to share his heart with the world. We always support him doing so," Bates added.
Scott first introduced his plan in February 2022 without the approval of party leadership. At the time, McConnell distanced himself from it, and he's continued to scorch Scott's proposal ever since, especially as Democrats -- including most recently President Biden -- have used it to score political points.
McConnell recently came out even more forcefully against Scott's plan following repeated efforts by the Biden White House to highlight it. McConnell told a Kentucky radio host last week that a proposal to sunset federal legislation after five years -- including Social Security - would be "just a bad idea."
"I think it will be a challenge for him to deal with this in his own reelection in Florida, a state with more elderly people than any state in America," McConnell said. "It is clearly the Rick Scott plan. It is not the Republican plan. And that's the view of the speaker of the House as well."
While House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said cuts to Social Security are "off the table," in the debt limit standoff, it hasn't stopped Democrats from using Scott's plan to contrast themselves from Republicans as the debate over raising the debt limit and spending cuts heats up.
President Joe Biden reads from a pamphlet by Senator Rick Scott, while delivering remarks on his plan to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, as well as lower healthcare costs, in Tampa, Fla., Feb. 9, 2023.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden highlighted Scott's plan during his State of the Union Address earlier this month.
"Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years," Biden said during the speech. "That means if Congress doesn't vote to keep them, those programs will go away."
The comments effectively baited Republicans, who shouted across the chamber that Biden was lying about their intentions, leading Biden to take advantage by concluding, "So, folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right?"
Biden also reference Scott's plan in subsequent appearances following the address, holding up brochures and print outs of Scott's plan at an appearances in Wisconsin and Scott's home state of Florida.
"Look, a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare. Well, let me just say this .... My veto pen [will] make it a nightmare," he told the union crowd in DeForest, Wisconsin.
After facing backlash from the White House and members of his own party, Florida Sen. Rick Scott on Friday amended a controversial proposal in his “12 Point Plan to Rescue America” that would have sunset all federal legislation after five years, including Social Security and Medicare.
The plan initially read: “All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.”
It now includes very specific exceptions for “Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans benefits, and other essential services.”
The plan also also includes a note to some of his most staunch critics: President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
“Note to President Biden, Sen. Schumer, and Sen. McConnell — As you know, this was never intended to apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the U.S. Navy,” the plan reads in bold letters. (Scott served in the United States Navy.)
President Biden made the issue of Medicare and Social Security a key focus of his State of the Union address earlier this month, hammering Scott and fellow Republican Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, for their comments on the entitlement programs. He also made defending the programs a major talking point events in Wisconsin and Tampa, Fla., following his address.
"I know that a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare," Biden said at the event in Scott’s home state of Florida last week. "Let me say this, if that's your dream, I'm your nightmare.”
Ahead of Biden’s Tampa event, staffers handed out copies of Scott's proposal.
The president also made protecting Medicare and Social Security a key theme of his campaign for Democrats in last year's midterms, which saw the president's party outperform expectations of a "red wave.” Scott released the “12 Point Plan” while serving as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm.
McConnell also hammered Scott on the plan, suggesting in a radio interview that it could hurt his re-election prospects in Florida next year.
“That’s not a Republican plan, that was the Rick Scott plan,” McConnell told Kentucky radio host Terry Meiners last week, adding: “I think it will be a challenge for him to deal with in his own re-election in Florida, a state with more elderly people than any other state in America.”
In an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, Scott claimed that his plan was "obviously not intended to include entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security" and accused Biden, Schumer and McConnell of "shallow gotcha politics."
"I have never supported cutting Social Security or Medicare, ever," Scott charged. "To say otherwise is a disingenuous Democrat lie from a very confused president. And [McConnell] is also well aware of that. It’s shallow gotcha politics, which is what Washington does."
Republicans have accused Biden of lying following his comments at the State of the Union, alleging that he misled Americans by claiming that Social Security and Medicare are part of their demands to agree to raise the debt ceiling this year.
But the president’s accusation that some GOP members have proposed sunsetting the programs was not fabricated out of thin air, and he acknowledged that he didn’t believe the majority of Republicans — “I don’t even think it’s even a significant” amount, he said — supported such a plan.
At a White House briefing on Friday, chief spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden "congratulates Sen. Scott on joining the 'post-State of the Union red wave,' as we have seen from Republicans, acknowledging that they are in fact been attempting to put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block, because that's what they are actually saying, that they were indeed attempting to do that."
"We have the facts: the past year, he has explained the absence of an exception by saying, 'if it's worth keeping, we're going to keep it,'" Jean-Pierre continued. "But make no mistake, his true colors are undeniable and on the record. They have been speaking out both sides of their mouths here. That's what Republicans in the Senate, and Congress, more broadly, have been doing."
Spectrum News' Ryan Chatelain contributed to this report.
