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.