Sunday, March 10, 2024

Is President Trump Going To Cut Social Security And Medicare

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Gop Plan To Cut Social Security Medicare In 2023 Comes Into View

Full story behind commercial that claims President Trump will cut Social Security and Medicare

BySteve Benen

Democrats have spent much of the year warning voters that Republicans will seek cuts to Social Security and Medicare if put in power, and an amazing number of GOP officials and candidates have bolstered the claims. Whats new this week, however, is Republicans signaling how they intend to pursue their goal.

It was two weeks ago when President Joe Biden warned the public that Social Security and Medicare would end up on the chopping block if Republicans have their way, and the rhetoric hardly seemed outlandish. In recent months, theres been no shortage of prominent GOP voices from Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson to New Hampshires Don Bolduc to Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia whove bolstered Bidens claims.

But for many voters, the warnings may not seem overly alarming. After all, theres a Democratic White House. Even if Republicans enjoyed congressional majorities, and they were somehow able to pass a bill to cut Medicare and Social Security, the president would veto it and the public would be protected. So theres no real cause for concern, right?


Wrong. Bloomberg Government published a striking report yesterday sketching out GOP officials plans to work around a veto threat and force Biden to accept cuts to the popular social insurance programs.

Instead, they waited for a Democratic president, whom they hope to extort into giving them the cuts they want.

Trump Speech Missing Several Of His Favorite Talking Points

Shannon Pettypiece

While President Trump launched attack after attack on Joe Biden, he left out a number of his favorite topics of criticism in his acceptance speech.

He made no mention of mail-in voting, which he has alleged, without evidence, will lead to widespread voter fraud and could prevent the country from ever knowing the result of the election. There is no evidence that mail-in voting is at risk for fraud.


Trump also avoided bringing up Bidens son Hunter, a line of attack his campaign believed at one point would be central to their takedown of Biden. He also made no mention of Bidens running mate Kamala Harris, who his campaign has struggled to find an effective way to criticize.

With protests raging outside the White House gates and in Wisconsin over racial injustice, Trump made only a passing mention of race and there was no mention of racism.

Fact Check: Giuliani Mischaracterizes Legislative Efforts For Police Reform

Rudy Giuliani claimed in his RNC speech Thursday that, following George Floyds death, it seemed, for a few brief shining moments, Democrat and Republican leaders would come together with a unified proposal to reduce police misconduct.

He added that it didnt move forward because this possibility was very dangerous to the left.

There is no evidence that Democrats and Republicans ever came anywhere close to reaching any kind of bipartisan deal on police reform after Floyd, a Black man, died under the knee of a white police officer. And the pressure to not move forward on a bill came from the White House, not the progressive wing of the party.


On the contrary, the House, in which the Democratic Party holds the majority, passed a sweeping police reform bill in late June largely along party lines to address systemic racism and police brutality.

The legislation would ban all neck restraints, including chokeholds and the kind used on Floyd by a then-Minneapolis police officer, as well as no-knock warrants in drug cases, as was used in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, in March.

Trump threatened to veto the measure if it passed the Republican-controlled Senate.

Senate Republicans had supported their own, narrower, bill, which wouldn’t ban chokeholds but would withhold federal funding from police departments that don’t stop using the potentially deadly technique.

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Trump Promises A ‘safe And Effective’ Coronavirus Vaccine ‘this Year’

The president boasts of lifesaving therapies, but critics argue there isn’t enough evidence to back up this claim. One treatment, Remdesivir, has been shown to reduce deaths in severely ill patients with COVID-19. The U.S. recently approved the use of convalescent plasma for COVID-19, but without results from randomized clinical trials the gold standard of medical research theres no clear proof the plasma treatment saved lives. Studies have shown that the treatment is safe and other research suggests it holds promise for treating patients, though.

There is also no evidence that an effective vaccine will be delivered by the end of the year. There are four vaccines currently in clinical trials in the U.S, with the one from Moderna furthest along. But its impossible to know if these vaccines will prove effective.

Vaccines dont always work, one expert told NBC News earlier this year.

Entitlements Are On The Table

The Villages gives President Trump a warm welcome

However, it’s important to recognize that just because Donald Trump never laid out a concrete plan to tackle Social Security’s growing long-term cash shortfall, it doesn’t mean a potential fix isn’t on the table if he’s reelected.

In January 2020, while at the World Economic Forum, CNBC host Joe Kernan squarely asked then-President Trump, “Entitlements ever be on your plate?” Trump responded, “At some point they will be.”


This statement, coupled with Donald Trump’s lack of a concrete Social Security proposal, would likely mean that any broad-stroke solution to resolve Social Security’s shortcomings would feature the two core Republican Party proposals.

To start with, most Republican lawmakers in Congress believe the full retirement age should be gradually increased to as high as 70 — it’s currently 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later. The full retirement age is the age at which an eligible retired worker is able to receive 100% of their monthly benefit. Since retired-worker payouts began in 1940, the full retirement age has risen two years, while the average life expectancy has jumped by approximately 13 years.

Why increase the full retirement age? The simple reason would be to reduce Social Security’s outlays over the long run. Regardless of whether future retirees choose to wait longer to receive their full payout or accept a reduced monthly benefit by claiming before their full retirement age, their aggregate lifetime payouts from the program would decline.

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Former President Trump Who’s Seeking Reelection To The Oval Office May Be Forced To Tackle Shortcomings With America’s Top Retirement Program

Not even one month ago, midterm elections came to a close in the United States. But as one election season ends, another begins, with prospective presidential candidates turning their eyes to the Oval Office in November 2024. One such candidate is former President Donald Trump.


Trump, the 45th president of the United States, who lost to Joe Biden in November 2020 election, announced his bid to be reelected to the nation’s highest office on Nov. 15. Although voters are a long way from deciding who the two primary candidates will be for the 2024 election, Trump’s previous victory in 2016, as well as his support base, gives him a good chance to win the Republican nomination.

Former President Trump signing paperwork. Image source: Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead.

Whoever wins the presidency in 2024 will be tasked with tackling what’s currently a $20.4 trillion cash deficit for America’s top retirement program, Social Security, through 2096. In other words, hard decisions will eventually need to be made.

The $64,000 question is: If Donald Trump is reelected, would Social Security benefit cuts be on the table?

White House Turns Talk Of Medicare Social Security Cuts Against Gop

The White House is turning the tables on House Republican lawmakers when it comes to conservative-led spending proposals that Democrats warn could mean cuts to crucial programs like Medicare and Social Security.


The Biden administration is already building on a strategy it deployed during the midterm election season in which it highlighted talk from multiple GOP congressional lawmakers about how they plan to use their new House majority to consider cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Its also putting a spotlight on the possibility of military spending cuts by Republicans in an effort to balance federal spending and reduce the national debt.

The Biden administration has made clear it wont go along with such proposals, framing Republicans as the party that wants to defund the military and threaten social welfare programs.

They are going to try to cut Social Security and Medicare. It could not be clearer, White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted Monday, sharing a clip of Rep. Michael Waltz saying on Fox Business Network that major spending cuts would likely require changes to entitlement programs.

Strategists and White House officials believe that the possibility of Republicans holding the debt ceiling hostage in exchange for spending cuts is both economically dangerous and a political loser for the GOP.


The looming fight over spending cuts is in many ways a repeat of the messaging battle that unfolded ahead of Novembers midterm elections.

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Did They Back Up Their Claim

Linked inside the tweet was a letter from Stephen C. Goss, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration. In this letter, which was penned at the request of four Democratic senators, Goss explains the effects of a permanent payroll tax cut. Goss letter states that, f this hypothetical legislation were enacted we estimate that Trust Fund asset reserves would become permanently depleted in about the middle of calendar year 2021, and also that Trust Fund reserves would become permanently depleted by the middle of calendar year 2023.

This is a memo from a government official that describes what would happen if payroll taxes were to be permanently cut and no alternative source of revenue was used to pay for these benefits. But is that the presidents plan?

Fact Check: Giuliani Wrong About ‘riots’ In ‘democrat’ Cities

Trump promised over and over to ‘save’ Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Will he?

Rudy Giuliani made several wrong, exaggerated or misleading claims about policing and law enforcement in the U.S. during his RNC speech Thursday.


Speaking about the protests sparked across the U.S. in response to the death of a Black man, George Floyd, under the knee of a White Minneapolis police officer, Giuliani said, Soon protests turned into riots in many other American cities, almost all Democrats.”

He blamed the violence on “Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA” who he said “sprang into action” and”hijacked peaceful protest into vicious brutal riots.”

He added that, in those riots, “people beaten, shot, and killed. Police officers routinely assaulted, badly beaten, and occasionally murdered.

This is all a substantial distortion and exaggeration of the facts.

According to multiplereports, including a Washington Post fact check, there were no signs that that antifa was behind violence at these protests. As of earlier this month, federal prosecutors had not been able to link dozens of people arrested in protests in Portland, Ore., to antifa.

In fact, in at least one instance where a police officer was killed during a protest, the suspect was actually aligned with a far-right extremist group. In Oakland, Air Force Staff Sgt. Steven Carrillo a member of the boogaloo, an online extremist group with violent views is accused of killing a federal officer. Authorities have said he was using nearby peaceful protests as cover.

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Fact Check: Trump Hammers Biden On Nafta Support Which He Said Killed Jobs He’s Right

President Trump used part of his speech Thursday night to hammer Joe Biden on his support of catastrophic trade deals he said bled U.S. jobs to other countries.

Biden voted for the NAFTA disaster, the single worst trade deal ever enacted he supported China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, one of the greatest economic disasters of all time. After those Biden calamities, the United States lost 1 in 4 manufacturing jobs, Trump said.

This claim is true, although trade was not the only reason that U.S. companies shed these jobs.

Fact Check: Trump Claims Biden Wants To ‘close All Charter Schools’ That’s False

“Biden also vowed to oppose school choice and close all charter schools, ripping away the ladder of opportunity for Black and Hispanic children,” Trump claimed on Tuesday night.

This is false. The Biden campaign does not oppose charter schools, though they’ve advocated against for-profit charter schools and supported different regulations and oversight of the schools.

And while “school choice” is a buzzy word, it can means different things to different people. Trump supports letting students take federal funds to private schools, something Joe Biden and many Democrats oppose, instead supporting allowing families to make choices within publicly-funded school districts.

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Rnc Plays Video Of Younger Voters Denouncing Liberalism

A video of unidentified younger voters played at the Republican National Convention on Thursday.

The video featured the voters denouncing liberalism, with some of them saying they had once believed in some of the tenets of the ideology but now support Trump instead.

Its another example of Trump reaching out to disaffected progressive voters, some of whom voted for him in 2016.

“The last time we had a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters,” Trump said earlier this year. “I think if they take it away from him like they did the last time, I really believe you’re going to have a very riotous time in the Democrat Party.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders has implored his supporters not to turn against the Democratic party despite his losing the nomination.

At last week’s Democratic convention, Sanders said, “My friends, I say to you, to everyone who supported other candidates in this primary, and to those who may have voted for Donald Trump in the last election: The future of our democracy is at stake. The future of our economy is at stake. The future of our planet is at stake.”

Trump With White House As Literal Backdrop Talks About Its History As Critics Say Hes Violating The Law

Republicans Hope Trump Will Shift On Social Security

Dartunorro Clark

Trump embedded references to the countrys past presidents, such as Lincoln, Grant and Eisenhower, and the work they did in the White House as he gives a speech from the Peoples House.

Gathered here at our beautiful and majestic White House known all over the world as the People’s House we cannot help but marvel at the miracle that is our Great American Story, Trump said. This has been the home of larger-than-life figures like Teddy Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson who rallied Americans to bold visions of a bigger and brighter future. Within these walls lived tenacious generals like Presidents Grant and Eisenhower who led our soldiers in the cause of freedom.

Critics and ethics experts have routinely hammered the president for hosting a political convention that included the performance of official duties at the White House, which they say is a violation of federal law that prohibits government employees from participating in political activities.

White House advisor Kellyanne Conway, who gave a speech, was excoriated by a government watchdog for repeatedly violating the federal law called the Hatch Act by engaging in partisan politics. Ivanka Trump, a senior aide, also gave a speech at the White House, raising similar issues.

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Fact Check: No Evidence For Trump’s Covid

Jane C. Timm and

In recent months, our nation, and the entire planet, has been struck by a new and powerful invisible enemy. Like those brave Americans before us, we are meeting this challenge. We are delivering lifesaving therapies, and will produce a vaccine before the end of the year, or maybe even sooner! Trump claimed on Thursday night.

This is largely false. The U.S. is still struggling to meet the challenge of the deadly coronavirus, which is still spreading rapidly and killing sometimes more than a thousand people a day while other countries have managed to reduce transmission and dramatically reduce deaths. The U.S. has a quarter of the globe’s confirmed infections, despite having just 4.2 percent of the global population. Meanwhile, testing is limited and shortages of personal protective equipment persist six months after the first days of the pandemic.

Trump Deferred The Tax That Funds Social Security And Vowed To ‘terminate’ The Tax In The Future

The vast majority of Social Security is financed through the payroll tax, according to the Social Security Administration. In 2019, 89% of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance was financed via payroll taxes equal to $944.5 billion.

One of the Aug. 8 executive orders instructed the Treasury Department to allow employers to defer payment of payroll taxes for employees who make less than $100,000 each year.

The deferrals, which may start Sept. 1 and extend through 2020, are intended to allow Americans to use the totality of their income amid the pandemic’s hardships.

The order also instructed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to “explore avenues, including legislation, to eliminate the obligation to pay the taxes deferred” a goal Trump reiterated in remarks after he signed the order.

If Im victorious on November 3rd, I plan to forgive these taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax,” Trump said, per the Washington Post. Im going to make them all permanent.

“In other words, I’ll extend it beyond the end of the year, and terminate the tax,” he added. He reiterated his plan at a press conference on Monday.

“We will be ending that tax. We will be terminating that tax,” Trump said, per a transcript from CNN. “The payroll tax is a big deal for people. It’s a tremendous saving for people. And we’re going to be doing it, and we intend to terminate it at the end of the appropriate period of time.”

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House Gop Signals Cuts To Social Security Medicare

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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won – Now What? , a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard’s essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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