Republicans Passed Huge Tax Giveaways to Wealthy Shareholders and Corporate CEOs – Now Those Same Republicans Are Coming for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security

It’s only been a few months since Republicans jammed through their massive giveaway to corporate executives and wealthy shareholders. Now they’re planning on paying for it with huge cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, despite President Trump’s promises that he wouldn’t do so.

AFTER PASSING HUGE TAX GIVEAWAYS TO WEALTHY SHAREHOLDERS AND CORPORATE EXECUTIVES, CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS AND THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ARE THREATENING TO CUT MEDICARE, MEDICAID, AND SOCIAL SECURITY



Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI): “We’re going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit." [KHOW, 12/17/16]



Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI): “On entitlement reform, I've long said there are two things you've got to do to get this debt under control: reform the entitlement programs, which are on autopilot; grow the economy. We had three reconciliation packages prepared for this -- this Congress. The first one, which the House passed on health care, didn't pass the Senate. The second one, which we're in right now, was about getting the economy growing, doing tax reform. We're on the cusp of delivering that. The third one, the one next year, is back to very important entitlement reforms. And one of the important entitlement reforms we see that is necessary, is get us out of this poverty trap where we're actually trapping people in poverty, disincentivizing work.” [Press Conference, 12/14/17]



Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI): “The name of the game on the debt and the deficit is entitlements. You know that. You’ve been covering the budget for as long as I’ve been here. It’s entitlements. And regrettably, the House passed the biggest entitlement reform bill Congress has ever considered last year, and regrettably the Senate did not follow suit. So we’re just going to have to keep at it on entitlements.” [Press Conference, 3/20/18]



White House Legislative Director Marc Short:

MARTIN: Could he cut Medicaid? Would that be a target?

SHORT: “Well… keep in mind when we tried to repeal Obamacare, we said at the time that Medicaid was on a unsustainable path and we were looking to make it sustainable for future generations. Many in the media criticized that as cuts but again, only in Washington if you slow the growth rate, do they consider that a cut. We were not cutting any program, we were trying to put it on a sustainable path, so that is certainly a program that we think is on an unsustainable path and if it’s going to be there for future generations, needs to be addressed.” [NPR, 12/21/17]



White House Legislative Director Marc Short:

MARTIN: So that means you’re leaving the door open for future cuts to those entitlement programs?

SHORT: I’m not going to have a hypothetical debate now about what we may or may not do in future years on these programs. [NPR, 12/7/17]



Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL): “You can’t do one, you’ve got to do both. You have got to, you have go to generate economic growth, because growth generates revenue. But you also have to bring spending under control, and not discretionary spending. That isn’t the driver of our debt. The driver of our debt is the structure of Social Security and Medicare for future beneficiaries. We still have time, not just to save those programs, but to responsibly structure them in a way that doesn't impact current retirees or people about to retire.” [Politico Playbook, 11/29/17]



House Budget Chairman Diane Black (R-TN):

QUESTION: You say you cut taxes it means less revenue for the government and therefore you are going to have more deficits. How do you answer that?

BLACK: Well, because with the growth you also have to control your spending. You can't just say where there is a front there is not a back. In this situation there is a front and back. And we have got to get to that point where we're talking about that mandatory spending. So as we grow the economy, as the American people see more money in their pocket, we also have to remember on the other side those mandatory programs, those what we call entitlement programs have to be reformed. You have programs that are 40, 50, 60 years old and you still haven't reformed them. You must reform them for today's standards. And so that's a hard thing to do and I'll admit that. But that is something we have to look at on the other side as well. [Fox News, 11/7/17]



DESPITE PRESIDENT TRUMP’S REPEATED PROMISES THAT HE WOULDN’T CUT MEDICARE, MEDICAID, AND SOCIAL SECURITY



Donald Trump: “Every Republican wants to do a big number on Social Security. They want to do it on Medicare. They want to do it on Medicaid. And we can’t do that. And it’s not fair to the people that have been paying in for years and now all of a sudden they want to be cut.” [Remarks at NH Republican Leadership Summit, 4/18/15]



Donald Trump: “I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. Huckabee copied me.” [Twitter, 5/7/15]



Donald Trump: “Huckabee is a nice guy but will never be able to bring in the funds so as not to cut Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid. I will.” [Twitter, 5/7/15]



Donald Trump: “‘I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,’ Trump told The Daily Signal. ‘Every other Republican is going to cut, and even if they wouldn’t, they don’t know what to do because they don’t know where the money is. I do.’” [Daily Signal, 5/21/15]



Donald Trump: "Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it." [Trump's Presidential Announcement Speech, 6/16/15]



Donald Trump: “I am going to save Medicare and Medicaid, Carson wants to abolish, and failing candidate Gov. John Kasich doesn't have a clue - weak!” [Twitter, 10/31/15]





DEMOCRATS WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST REPUBLICANS’ ATTACKS ON MEDICARE, MEDICAID, AND SOCIAL SECURITY:

WATCH: Republicans plan huge cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

2017 GOP Agenda: Huge tax giveaways to the wealthy and corporations

2018 GOP Agenda: Huge cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security pic.twitter.com/IxTnfG15Cg — Senate Democrats (@SenateDems) December 8, 2017



WATCH: Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) admits a Republican bill on “entitlement reforms” is up next.

WATCH: Speaker Paul Ryan admits Republicans always planned:

A partisan reconciliation bill on health care

A partisan reconciliation bill on taxes

And next up: a partisan reconciliation bill on “entitlement reforms” pic.twitter.com/hN4qLxnUVL — Senate Democrats (@SenateDems) December 14, 2017



WATCH: Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) explains that Republicans will use the deficit as an excuse to go after Social Security and Medicare.