Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump gestures to supporters during a campaign rally at the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia, the United States, on March 9, 2024.
Alyssa Pointer | Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday quickly dismissed Donald Trump’s suggestion in an interview with CNBC that “a lot more” could be done to cut government programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicare. Medicaid.
“Not in my jurisdiction,” Biden said in a social media post on X in response to a video of the comments posted by the Trump reelection campaign.
It was the latest quick response from Biden and his campaign to comments from the former president, who is expected to face Biden as the presumptive Republican nominee in a rematch of the 2020 election in November.
The White House also issued a statement calling the idea of cutting Social Security and Medicaid “completely retrograde.”
On Monday, CNBC’s Joe Kernen asked Trump on “Squawk Box” if he had changed his “mind about how to handle benefits like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.”
“First of all, there’s a lot you can do on benefits, on cuts, and on theft and mismanagement of benefits,” Trump responded.
“Rights management is extremely poor. There are many things you can do, and there are many,” Trump said.
Trump disputed Kernan’s suggestion that his views on entitlement cuts were at least not seen to be that different from Biden’s.
“I don’t necessarily agree with that,” Trump said.
“I know they’re going to end up weakening Social Security because the country is weak,” he added, referring to the Biden administration.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates later issued a statement noting that Biden warned in his State of the Union address to Congress last week that “Republican officials planned to cut Medicare and Social Security.”
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., on March 7, 2024.
Evelyn Hochstein | Reuters
“On Thursday, the president made clear, ‘If anyone here tries to cut Social Security or Medicare or raise the retirement age, I’m going to stop you… I’m going to protect and strengthen Social Security so that the rich pay a fair share Share,'” Bates said.
The spokesperson added, “Cutting the Medicare and Social Security benefits Americans pay to make a living — just to give the super-rich more unaffordable, trickle-down tax benefits — is completely regressive.”
Kernan said in an interview with Trump that benefits like Social Security and Medicare are “almost the third rail of politics,” meaning elected officials avoid cutting them for fear voters will punish them on Election Day.
The host told Trump that “it seems like something has to be done” to cut spending on such benefits, otherwise federal debt levels will remain high.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, government debt is $34.46 trillion.
In fiscal year 2023, the federal government will spend $6.13 trillion.
Social Security is by far the largest single budget item in federal spending, accounting for 22% of the government’s current spending.
Health care spending (including Medicare and Medicaid) is tied with defense as the second largest budget item, accounting for 14% of federal spending.
Covering a population of more than 150 million medical insurance or MedicaidAbout 45% of the U.S. population, according to the latest government data. Medicare primarily covers older adults, while Medicaid primarily covers lower-income Americans.
The Social Security Administration says that on average, nearly 68 million people receive benefits each month, accounting for about 20% of the U.S. population.
The vast majority of Social Security recipients are age 62 and older.
Older Americans are more likely than other age groups to vote in elections, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The bureau said that in the 2020 presidential election, in which Biden defeated Trump, “voter turnout was highest among those aged 65 to 74, accounting for 76.0% of registered voters in this age group.”
However, among voters aged 50 to 64, Trump’s approval rating is 6 percentage points higher than Biden’s, and among voters 65 and older, Trump’s approval rating is 4 percentage points higher than the Democratic Party.
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