Within minutes of Kevin McCarthy being elected House Speaker, President Biden made it clear that cutting Social Security and Medicare is a no-no.
President Biden said in a statement to PoliticusUSA:
Jill and I congratulate Kevin McCarthy on his election as Speaker of the House.
The American people expect their leaders to govern in a way that puts their needs ahead of everything else, and that’s what we need to do now.
As I said after the midterms, I am willing to work with Republicans if I can, and voters have made it clear that they expect Republicans to be willing to work with me as well. Now that the leadership of the House of Representatives has been decided, it is time to begin that process.
Today we learned that my plan to build a bottom-up economy has reached its lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. And that we made 2021 and 2022 the best years for job growth on record.
It is imperative that we continue this economic progress and not reverse it. It’s imperative that we protect Social Security and Medicare, not cut them. It is imperative that we defend our national security, not weaken it. These are some of the decisions that lie ahead of us.
As the last two years have shown, if we do them together, we can do profound things for the country.
For example, I traveled to Kentucky this week to highlight the growing benefits the bipartisan Infrastructure Act is bringing to communities across the country.
This is a time to govern responsibly and ensure we put the interests of American families first.
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It’s no coincidence that President Biden immediately put a red thread on cuts to Social Security and Medicare. House Republicans and McCarthy have been hinting for months that they would use something like the debt ceiling to force cuts to Social Security and Medicare from Democrats.
The change in House Rules that McCarthy promised those who made him Speaker of the House for the time being was that he would append spending cuts to any legislation funding the government or raising the debt ceiling.
President Biden is already setting the parameters and telling Speaker McCarthy to forget about cutting Social Security and Medicare.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House press pool and congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His thesis focused on public policy with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and professional memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association
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