


While both political parties have spent the last few days promising they will not cut Social Security or Medicare, both programs are on a quick path to insolvency, a fact reporters pressed the White House about on Thursday.
President Joe Biden is traveling to senior-heavy Florida to speak about the programs and had a memorable State of the Union exchange with GOPers who booed and shouted when he accused them of wanting to cut the entitlement programs.
BIDEN TAKES HEAT FOR FISCAL MISMANAGEMENT AS HE BRAGS ON THE ECONOMYWhite House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked aboard Air Force One if Biden has a plan to fiscally protect the programs in the long term.
"We're on a trip to Florida to talk about Social Security and Medicare, which are both on a path to insolvency," a reporter said. "What is the White House plan to put them back on sound fiscal footing?"
Jean-Pierre responded that Biden would continue to "fight for" the programs and "call out Republicans" about them. She also pointed to the Inflation Reduction Act as recent legislation strengthening Medicare.
Biden has accused Republicans of wanting to cut the programs since the midterm elections , and his administration has doubled down on those attacks in recent weeks. However, nonpartisan groups have called out the president for ignoring financial problems with both.
This week, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget accused the White House of " demagoguing " the issue.
"Washington has only a decade to save Social Security before the law calls for a 20% across-the-board benefit cut. They have even less time for Medicare," CRFB president Maya MacGuineas said in a Monday statement. "This kind of heated rhetoric is dishonest, counterproductive, and totally unacceptable."
During the State of the Union speech, Biden mentioned that he had a plan to shore up the Medicare Trust Fund but did not say the same for Social Security. Another reporter asked Jean-Pierre if that meant Biden does not have a plan for the latter program.
"I'm not going to get ahead of how the president is going to lay out his budget on March 9," said Jean-Pierre. "I'm just not going to get ahead of it."
The attacks stem from Sen. Rick Scott's (R-FL) "Rescue America" plan that calls for sunsetting federal legislation after five years.
Scott's plan didn't specify Social Security and Medicare, but the programs were created by federal law and would appear to be subject to the same need for reauthorization.
Republican leadership has distanced itself from Scott's plan, and GOPers loudly booed and called Biden a liar when he accused them of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare on Tuesday night.
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Nonetheless, the White House continues to go on the offensive over the issue.
"[Biden] is going to call out these House Republicans and Senate Republicans who have continuously said over the years, and especially the last several years, that they want to cut those two key benefits," Jean-Pierre said. "Taxpayers deserve, pay into, and should benefit from them."