As President Biden introduces his plan to lower the deficit by nearly $3 trillion over 10 years, all while protecting Medicare, lowering costs for families, and ensuring the wealthiest pay their fair share, MAGA Republicans still haven’t released their budget, but their own words and proposals show they’re willing to cut Social Security and Medicare.

House Republicans have consistently supported and released plans that would make drastic cuts to critical programs millions of Americans rely on.

New York Times: “The outline includes […] eliminating Obamacare expansions to Medicaid to save tens of billions of dollars. Nearly 40 states have accepted federal funding for expansion under the Affordable Care Act, providing health care coverage for an estimated 12 million individuals living near or below the poverty line.”

New York Times: “The Republican Study Committee, a group that includes 173 of the 222 Republican House members, has offered a fairly detailed plan. Its budget includes deep cuts to Medicaid and to discretionary spending on things other than defense, the part of the budget that funds functions like environmental protection, public transportation, medical research and homeland security. But those changes alone don’t get the budget to balance. The committee also relies on significant reductions in Social Security and Medicare to erase the deficit.”

Washington Post: “The plan includes $2 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, the health program for the poor; more than $600 billion in cuts to the Affordable Care Act; more than $400 billion in cuts to food stamps; hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to educational subsidies; and a halving of the State Department and the Labor Department, among other federal agencies. While congressional Republicans have yet to release a budget plan, House GOP lawmakers are weighing cuts to these programs…”

Republicans’ proposals could add nearly $3 trillion to the deficit to give massive giveaways to the super-rich, special interests, and Big Pharma – in contrast to President Biden’s budget which would help reverse Republicans’ tax breaks for the ultra wealthy.

AP: “The White House fact sheet said Republicans would increase the debt by $2.7 trillion by prolonging those tax cuts, in addition to cutting a corporate minimum tax established by Biden and other policies that would add to the debt.”

New York Times: “Despite Republican claims that the tax cuts paid for themselves, the C.B.O. estimated last month that Mr. Trump’s corporate tax cuts alone would cost the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue in the years to come. Earlier C.B.O. analyses suggest that the full slate of tax cuts have already cost the government $1.2 trillion through the 2022 fiscal year.”

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “House GOP’s First Bill: A Misleading Gambit to Protect Interests of Wealthy Tax Cheats”

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: “IRS Funding Repeal Could Cost Over $100 Billion, Encourage Tax Cheating”

MAGA Republicans’ intention to go after the programs Americans rely on has long been clear. The Republican Study Committee – which represents a majority of House Republicans – has previously put out a budget proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

House Freedom Caucus member Ralph Norman: “The HFC is working with key committees and interested parties to produce the base framework for the previously agreed upon 10-year balanced budget, [it] will include immediate cuts, rescission clawbacks, reallocation of funding for numerous existing programs and more.”

NBC News: “The Republican Study Committee, a large group of House conservatives, proposed a budget in June that would incrementally raise the retirement age to collect Social Security, based on changing life spans, and lower benefits…”

Bloomberg Government: “Social Security and Medicare eligibility changes, spending caps, and safety-net work requirements are among the top priorities for key House Republicans who want to use next year’s debt-limit deadline to extract concessions from Democrats.”

And 2024 Republican hopefuls have shown they’re right in line with the MAGA Republican majority. 

Washington Post: “His avowed stance, however, is at odds with Trump’s own record as president: Each of his White House budget proposals included cuts to Social Security and Medicare programs.”

NHJournal: “On entitlement programs, [Nikki Haley] says ‘you have to look at entitlements.’ ‘Let’s not dig our head in the sand and say ‘we’re not going to do anything about entitlements,’ we have to.’”

CNN: “A CNN KFile review of comments from DeSantis’ 2012 congressional campaign found he repeatedly said he supported plans to replace Medicare with a system in which the government paid for partial costs of private plans or a traditional Medicare plan. In one interview with a local newspaper, DeSantis said he supported ‘the same thing’ for Social Security, citing the need for ‘market forces’ to restructure the program.”

Semafor: “Mike Pence isn’t running from his old fiscal conservatism. Instead, he’s seemingly leaning into it by talking about privatizing Social Security, an idea the party largely abandoned after a politically damaging push in 2005.”

“‘I think the day could come where we can replace the New Deal with a Better Deal,’ he said during an interview in February. ‘Literally give younger Americans the ability to take a portion of their Social Security withholdings and put that into a private savings account that the government would oversee.’”

Washington Post: “Other potential entrants in the Republican primary, such as former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) and South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem, also voted for Ryan’s budget when they were in Congress.”

“‘There’s no doubt that we have to wrestle this beast to the ground and do the right thing,’ Scott said on Fox News in 2012. ‘The fact is that if we don’t start having a real conversation about people in their 40s and younger about the transformation of the system, it won’t be available for folks now in their 20s and 30s.’”

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