President Joe Biden sparred with Congressional Republicans after a claim he made about them during the State of the Union.
During his remarks, Biden brought up his claim Republicans want to “sunset” Medicare and Social Security.”
“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans — some Republicans — want Medicare and Social Security to sunset,” Biden began. “I’m not saying it’s the majority…”
He was cut off as Congressional Republicans loudly disagreed with his assertion.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) could be seen shaking his head and appearing to mouth, “No.”
Watch the video below:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) yells "you lie, you lie" and "liar" after President Biden says Republicans are proposing to sunset Medicare and Social Security. pic.twitter.com/nhRYn5KC7E
— The Recount (@therecount) February 8, 2023
Biden responded, “Let me give you… Anybody who doubts it, contact my office. I’ll give you a copy of the proposal.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was seen yelling, “You lie!… Liar!”
The president quipped, “I’m glad you see it. I tell you, I enjoy conversion.”
Biden stressed he does not believe a majority of Republicans back the proposal. He added, “But it’s being proposed by individuals. I’m politely not naming them, but it’s being proposed by some individuals.”
The Washington Post notes the claim stems from a lengthy list of policy proposals from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.).
“Buried on Page 38, in a section on government restructuring, was one sentence: ‘All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,'” the Post’s fact-checker notes.
It added, “‘Sunset’ is inside-the-Beltway lingo. The Congressional Research Service offers this definition: ‘The sunset concept provides for programs and agencies to terminate automatically on a periodic basis unless explicitly renewed by law.’ In theory, then, even a venerable program such as Social Security or Medicare would have to prove its worth all over again every five years, though neither was specifically mentioned.”
Scott has also said he does not want to end Social Security or Medicare.
Finally, the Post notes the senator’s plan did not receive widespread support among Republicans.
“This is yet another example in which Democrats strain to conjure up a nonexistent GOP plan regarding Social Security and Medicare,” it added.
