Nathan News

WASHINGTON — President Biden warned Tuesday that Republicans pose a threat to Social Security and Medicare, amplifying efforts by Democrats to make the fate of U.S. social safety net programs a central campaign issue ahead of the New York election. November mid-term.

The comments were part of a push by Democrats across the country to steer the political conversation away from soaring prices and growing recession fears and remind anxious voters that some Republicans have called for the restructuring or reduction of welfare programs. rights on which pensioners have relied for decades.

The strategy is a return to a familiar election year theme. Although Mr Biden, who spoke from the White House Rose Garden, gave few details on how he would preserve the benefits, he insisted that if Republicans regain control of Congress, they will would try to take them away from him.

“What do you think they’re going to do?” Biden asked, holding up a copy of a plan drafted by Sen. Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, that would see Social Security and Medicare ‘lay down’ if Congress didn’t pass. new legislation to extend them.

Scott’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The criticism has put Republicans on the defensive, with many saying their policies would ensure Social Security and Medicare don’t run out of money.

Despite suggestions of their impending demise, Social Security and Medicare are unlikely to be changed while Mr. Biden is in office. Top Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Minority Leader, have said Mr. Scott’s proposal is a no-start.

But decades of political wrangling have left the programs in limbo.

Tens of millions of aging Americans depend on Social Security and Medicare to supplement their income and health care expenses. Social Security and Medicare finances have been on shaky ground for years, and Congress has been unable to come together to find a solution to ensure the programs’ solvency.

Government actuaries said in June that the health of social safety net programs had improved slightly over the past year, due to the strength of the economic recovery, but that gaps still loomed.

Mr. Biden did not offer a specific proposal for the programs on Tuesday beyond keeping them out of Republican hands. He also took aim at Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin who faces re-election, and suggested that all federal spending, including for Social Security and Medicare, be reviewed annually by Congress.

“He wants to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every year in every budget,” Biden said. “If Congress doesn’t vote to keep him, goodbye.”

Mr Johnson said on Twitter Tuesday that he wanted to save Social Security, Medicare and veterans’ benefits, and that Democrats were telling “lies” about his proposals.

“The biggest threat to these programs is the massive, out-of-control deficit spending that Biden and Dems have enacted in Congress,” Johnson said.

The Social Security Old Age and Survivors Trust Fund, which pays benefits to pensioners, will run out in 2034, by which time the fund’s reserves will run out and incoming tax revenue will be enough to cover just 77% of benefits planned. Medicare’s hospital trust fund, which does not affect benefits covering doctor’s visits and prescription drugs, improved last year but is expected to run into a shortfall in 2028.

Concerns about the solvency of the programs come as retirees grapple with the highest levels of inflation in four decades. Social Security payments are expected to rise by about 9% next month when an inflation-indexed cost-of-living adjustment is announced.

Those increases are usually offset somewhat by higher health insurance premiums for doctor visits, but Biden said those premiums won’t increase this year.

Democratic senators like Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts earlier called for expanding Social Security and expanding its solvency by raising taxes on the wealthy.