FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Contact: Linda Benesch, lbenesc
Republicans Are Already Breaking Trump’s Promise to Protect Social Security
(Washington, DC) — The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works:
“Donald Trump ran for President on a promise to protect Social Security. But just days after the election, Trump and his fellow Republicans have already broken that promise three times.
- Last night, 172 House Republicans voted for a bill that would reduce the Social Security benefits of 14 million workers, including public school teachers, firefighters, and police officers. Due to the opposition of Democrats and a small number of Republicans, it did not pass. However, nearly 80 percent of House Republicans have already broken Trump’s promise to protect Social Security.
- Also last night, Trump announced the creation of a new commission, co-chaired by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget. Social Security is not part of the general budget and doesn’t add a single penny to the deficit. But incoming Vice President JD Vance has explicitly said that the Musk commission will target Social Security.
Donald Trump just put the richest man in the world in charge of cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid so that billionaires never have to pay their fair share in taxes.
- Today, Senate Republicans elected Sen. John Thune (R-SD) as their leader. In the past, Thune has called for taking the debt limit hostage to force cuts to Social Security.
But that wasn’t good enough for Trump’s closest allies, who instead backed Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) for Senate Majority Leader. Scott infamously committed the then-largest Medicare fraud in history. Once in the Senate, he authored a plan to sunset all federal spending programs — including Social Security and Medicare — in five years.
Trump and Republicans told voters they would protect Social Security. But their actions are already telling a very different story.”
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