Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo nudged Republicans to keep an open debate about entitlement reform as some party luminaries have shied away from the issue.

Noting that he has warned his son that "Social Security is not going to be there for you," Pompeo argued that Republicans have a responsibility to be serious about cleaning up the nation's fiscal woes and ensure that Medicare and Social Security remain solvent.

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“It is absolutely the case that the next Republican president has to be more serious than previous Republican presidents have ever been about getting our fiscal house in order,” Pompeo told RealClearPolitics. “Making sure that folks who receive benefits from the government work” and ensuring that those “who are able to survive without that support don't receive it.”

Democrats have latched on to entitlements, sounding the alarms that the GOP may slash funding for Medicare and Social Security. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel have both ruled out reforms to those two programs in the near future.

Meanwhile, Pompeo's onetime boss and potential 2024 rival former President Donald Trump has bashed Republicans who have mused about tinkering with those programs. Despite those political concerns, Pompeo argued that the party has a duty to shore up those programs and get the deficit under control.

“We have to make sure that these programs, Medicare and Social Security, which comprise a significant piece of federal expenditures, are on a sustainable trajectory,” Pompeo added. “We owe it to the next generation to make sure we get that right … conservatives owe that to America."

Pompeo is mulling a 2024 run and has hinted that his announcement will come in the spring. Having served as the secretary of state and CIA director, he has extensive foreign policy experience, but he has waded into domestic issues over recent weeks while promoting his new book Never Give An Inch: Fighting for the America I Love.

He has also engaged in activity in key early primary states and occasionally opined on the 2024 race. Trump currently leads the GOP pack, with Pompeo in sixth place, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate. However, Pompeo contends that the primary is still wide open.

“I don’t think there is a single leader, and frankly I don’t think there has ever been a single leader,” Pompeo mused. “We always talk about presidents when they're in power, but it's a fractious party with lots of different ideas.”