Fresh off of Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Joe Biden traveled to the Sunshine State to focus on his efforts to protect Medicare and Social Security and lower health care costs for Americans.
"Today, I’ve come to Florida to talk about a critical piece of that plan giving families and seniors just a little more breathing room to lower your healthcare costs," Biden told the crowd in Tampa, Florida.
"Too many Americans lay in bed at night staring at the ceiling wondering what happens if I get sick, if I get cancer," the president continued, pointing to legislation he signed into law last year to help lower health care costs for Americans.
Biden said that he "signed the Inflation Reduction Act" – Democrats' sweeping health care, climate change and tax reform measure – "to bring health care costs down, so you could have a better night’s sleep."
The measure includes a monthly cap of $35 for insulin, the life-saving diabetes treatment, for Medicare recipients.
“We capped the cost of insulin at $35 for seniors on Medicare, but there are millions of Americans not on Medicare who need this insulin to save their lives," Biden said. "Let's finish the job and cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for everyone who needs it.”
"Finish the job" was the central, recurring theme of Biden's State of the Union address on Tuesday, where the president called for Republicans and Democrats to come together on repairing the economy and other key issues.
Biden’s trip to Tampa is part of a post-State of the Union blitz to at least 20 states by the president, Vice President Kamala Harris and members of the Cabinet to promote his policies and themes from the speech. It also represents an opportunity for the president to lay the groundwork for a possible 2024 presidential run in a deep-red Republican state with a growing retiree population.
"We’re finally giving Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices," Biden said Thursday. "Bringing down prescription drug costs doesn’t just save seniors money, it will cut the federal budget by hundreds of billions [of] dollars.”
The president's trip to Florida comes one day after a trip to electoral battleground Wisconsin, where he pledged to block any Republican efforts to block Medicare and Social Security.
“Look, a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare," Biden told the crowd in Wisconsin. "Well, let me just say this: it’s your dream, but I’m gonna have my veto pen make it a nightmare."
“All of you have been paying into the system every single paycheck you’ve had since you started working,” the president said. "These benefits belong to you, the American worker. You earned it, and I will not allow anyone to cut them. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever, period.”
Biden continued his line of attack on Republicans Thursday, vowing to veto any GOP-led efforts to cut either of the entitlement programs.
"I know that a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare," Biden told the crowd in Tampa. "Let me say this, if that's your dream, I'm your nightmare."
One of the most notable parts of Biden's State of the Union speech was his contentious exchange with Republicans on Medicare and Social Security. In his remarks calling for lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling, Biden slammed the proposals of some Republicans who want to sunset Medicare and Social Security on a five-year basis, or want to cut the programs entirely.
“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years. That means if Congress doesn’t vote to keep them, those programs will go away,” the president said. “Other Republicans say if we don’t cut Social Security and Medicare, they’ll let America default on its debt for the first time in our history.
The comment prompted a large contingent of Republicans to shout back at Biden. At least one shouted "Liar!" at the president.
“Anybody who doubts it, contact my office,” Biden responded. “I’ll give you a copy. I’ll give you a copy of the proposal.”
As the tumult died down, Biden flipped that resistance back on Republicans: "As we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare are apparently off the books now! We've got unanimity!"
“I won’t let that happen,” he pledged. “Social Security and Medicare are a lifeline for millions of seniors. Americans have been paying into them with every single paycheck since they started working. So tonight, let’s all agree ... to stand up for seniors. Stand up and show them we will not cut Social Security. We will not cut Medicare.”
"It sounds like its not gonna be a problem," he quipped.
Following the State of the Union speech, Republicans continued to voice their support for the programs while accusing Biden of being dishonest about their position.
“It's the classic Democrat lie: ‘They're going to throw Granny off the cliff again,’” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said during an appearance on Fox News after the speech. “At least half the chamber began laughing because it's fundamentally false. We should be strengthening and preserving Social Security and Medicare.”
Biden said he would not name the Republicans behind such proposals, but the White House made it clear in a tweet Wednesday he was referring to Rep. Rick Scott, R-Fla. Scott, who until last month chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, had already assumed as much.
In his 12-point “Rescue America” plan last year, Scott proposed that all federal legislation sunset after five years, meaning the laws would need to be passed again to remain in effect.
“If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” his proposal said.
That part of Scott’s proposal did not specifically mention Social Security or Medicare — although they would be included in needing to be repassed. But he also suggested requiring Congress to “issue a report every year telling the public what they plan to do when Social Security and Medicare go bankrupt.”
The programs face financial challenges and could run out of money around the mid-2030s.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has had similar ideas. He suggested during a podcast interview in August that Social Security and Medicare be eliminated as federal entitlement programs and instead be included in the budget approved by Congress each year.
“If you qualify for the entitlement, you just get it no matter what the cost,” Johnson said. “And our problem in this country is that more than 70% of our federal budget, of our federal spending, is all mandatory spending. It’s on automatic pilot. You just don’t do proper oversight. You don’t get in there and fix the programs going bankrupt.”
Johnson, in a local Wisconsin radio interview on Thursday, called Social Security "a legal Ponzi scheme ... it's a pay-as-you-go system."
In the same interview, he accused Biden of "lying" about his stance on Medicare and Social Security: "I never suggested putting Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block."
In an interview with CNN on Thursday ahead of Biden's trip to his home state, Sen. Scott said that it was not a mistake to make such a proposal, calling the president a "failure" and disputing his claims: "Nobody believes that I want to cut Medicare or Social Security, I’ve never said it."
Biden made protecting Medicare and Social Security a central theme of his campaign for Democrats in last year's midterms, which saw the president's party outperform expectations of a "red wave." The war of words over those programs between Biden and Scott, who chaired the Senate GOP's campaign arm in the midterms, continued Thursday.
Ahead of the president's Tampa event Thursday, staffers handed out copies of Scott's "12-Point Plan to Rescue America," which contains the proposal about sunsetting programs after five years, to those in attendance.
Scott, in a Twitter post, challenged Biden to a debate over Medicare and Social Security.
"Welcome to Florida," he wrote. "Since you can’t stop talking about me and lying to Floridians about Social Security and Medicare, I’m sure you’ll accept my invitation to debate the issue. I’ll be back in Florida tonight. You pick the time and place."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.