November 1, 2022 3:45pm EDT
Dems pivot to debunked Social Security talking point in run-up to midterms
Republicans have repeatedly stated they have no intentions of ending Social Security, Medicare
By Jessica Chasmar | Fox News
In a last-ditch effort to hold onto their razor-thin majorities in Congress, Democrats are reviving an old Social Security talking point that has been repeatedly debunked by fact-checkers.
"They’re coming after Social Security," Biden said Thursday in New York. "Now it sounds like, you know, ‘What’s – there’s Biden. That’s a typical Democrat saying Republicans are after Social Security.’ This is the one thing they’ve said out loud. They’ve written it down on pieces of paper."
The president then cited Sen. Rick Scott’s, R-Fla., "11-Point Plan to Rescue America," released in February, which proposes that "all federal legislation sunsets in 5 years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again."
Scott's plan did not specifically mention Social Security or Medicare, and many Senate Republicans, including GOP leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., disavowed Scott’s plan at the time.
"That will not be part of a Republican Senate majority agenda," McConnell said on March 1 with Scott by his side.
Scott has since explained that his plan, which was released through his own campaign and not the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC), which he chairs, is meant only to examine and reform federal programs like Social Security and Medicare, not eliminate them.
But Democrats proceeded to run with the narrative anyway, with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) releasing an ad in March saying Senate Republicans want to "end" Social Security and Medicare, highlighting an appearance by Scott talking about his plan on Fox News.
In the same Fox News interview, however, during a portion not included in the DSCC ad, Scott explained that he, in fact, wants to "preserve" Social Security and Medicare.
"No one that I know of wants to sunset Medicare or Social Security, but what we’re doing is we don’t even talk about it," Scott said. "Medicare goes bankrupt in four years. Social Security goes bankrupt in 12 years. I think we ought to figure out how we preserve those programs. Every program that we care about, we ought to stop and take the time to preserve those programs."
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dems-pivot-debunked-social-security-talking-point-run-up-midterms
