(LibertySociety.com) – During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech on February 7, he received a massive amount of backlash from Republicans after criticizing their stances on Medicare and Social Security. Boos and jeers erupted from the crowd, with many GOP lawmakers accusing him of lying.
Biden reportedly claimed “some” Republicans were trying to end Medicare and Social Security while keeping the economy held “hostage.” Republicans quickly clapped back, blasting him for what he said. Biden quickly sought to clarify his comments, saying that he doesn’t believe a “majority” of Republicans are out to get Medicare, but added that it’s “being proposed by individuals.” Still, some Republicans took to social media after the fact and accused him of perpetuating a lie.
According to Fox News, Democrats have often targeted Republicans over Medicare and Social Security due to a collective of legislative proposals from Senator Rick Scott, R-Florida, which were released last year and discarded almost immediately. However, Democrats allegedly saw an opportunity to capitalize on it, making cutting Social Security and Medicare a daily talking point in the debt-ceiling battle. Republicans are using Biden’s claim as an opportunity to reiterate their stance — that most are not interested in axing people’s benefits.
Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted an interview of himself with Fox News, calling out three big points Biden made in his speech, including the Social Security and Medicare comments, the claim that he’s being tough on China, and the claim that he has a plan to deal with the border crisis. He alleged that these were all lies and criticized the divisiveness of the speech, adding that “It was out of touch, and it was fundamentally dishonest.”
It is unclear if Democrats will continue to use Social Security and Medicare as a way to sway voters between now and the 2024 election, but House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has used it as a talking point over the last several weeks, often attributing the desire to take away those programs to “extreme MAGA Republicans.” However, Former President Trump has made it clear that the America First agenda does not include doing away with these programs. He released a video telling Republicans in Congress not to touch those programs on January 20th, 2023.
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