Newsmax guest: “I think it's a great idea to sunset Social Security, Medicare, all that”
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From the February 14, 2023, edition of Newsmax's American Agenda
BOB SELLARS (HOST): It does raise a question, though, and an interesting one. In the face of our debt problems, $31 trillion dollars in debt, is it ever ok to cut maybe parts of Social Security. Let's bring our panel back and I'll start with Kim this time. Kim, because one of the things people are asking is, let's take Joe Biden. He's worth millions. I'm not going to specify where he got his money. But let's say he's worth millions. And, should he be getting Social Security? You can save money if it's means-tested. Should that be a reasonable thing to look at?
KIM KLACIK (GUEST): Yeah I think that is reasonable. I mean, but you'll never hear that from Joe Biden or anyone in Joe Biden's position, right? They've made millions of dollars being so-called public servants. And we don't know where the money has come from. And that doesn't matter in this case. What we're talking about is the fact that do people like Joe Biden need Social Security? At the end of the day, he probably does not. But he's not going to take that cushion from underneath him. He's always talking about people in a certain tax bracket paying their fair share, but he could turn this around and look at some of the things that he could be doing. But, of course, that's not going to happen.
KATRINA SZISH (HOST): Brianna, your thoughts.
BRIANNA LYMAN (GUEST): Yeah. I mean, listen, I think it's a great idea to sunset Social Security, Medicare, all that. And the reason I say that is because, like Rick Scott said, if that program is important enough, Congress will renew it. If the program is important enough to voters, they will vote in an elected official who will continue that program.
And this idea is not new. And the fact that Joe Biden is coming out is so hypocritical because this is the same man in 1975 that said, let's do a four-year sunset on all federal programs. In the mid-80s, he said, let's do a freeze spending for an entire year, which would include Social Security and Medicare. And then he doubled down again in 1995. So, we have three different instances in which this man has literally wanted to do what Republicans want to do, which is about fiscal responsibility.
SELLERS: Yeah, and I think a lot of people who are in charge in favor of that. I think what they're worried about is that the political winds in the short term might not serve people who have spent their whole lives working and contributing to the system, not getting something fair and getting the stability and security financially that really that they would like to have.