White House says GOP making cutting Social Security ‘a priority’ amid Speakership fight

The White House on Thursday accused House Republicans of making Social Security and Medicare cuts a “priority” amid discussions within the conference to elect a new Speaker.

“House Republicans may have spent the past week at each other’s throats. But cutting Social Security and Medicare continues to be one proposal that truly unites their conference,” the White House said in a memo first shared exclusively with The Hill.

It follows reporting from Semafor that Reps. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said Steve Scalise (R-La.) support setting up a bipartisan commission to address the national debt, including looking at the Social Security and Medicare programs.

Scalise defeated Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) in the conference’s internal vote Wednesday to become the GOP nominee for Speaker — but the tally was a slim 113-99 victory, and he is struggling to garner enough support to win a majority vote on the House floor.

“Cutting Social Security and Medicare is a priority that House Republicans will let outlive their leadership,” the White House memo said. It highlighted that the Republican Budget Committee’s model federal budget for fiscal 2023 included increasing the Social Security eligibility age to reflect longevity.

“President Biden has been crystal clear: no matter who leads the House Republican Conference, he won’t let them cut one penny from Americans’ hard-earned retirement benefits,” the memo said.

Biden earlier this year had a back-and-forth with House Republicans during his State of the Union address, during which he warned that some Republicans wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare. He vowed he would veto any such effort, remarks that elicited boos and jeers from many GOP lawmakers in attendance, who argued it was not true.

Biden has often hit Republicans over Social Security and Medicare and claimed that they want to make cuts to entitlement programs.

He has bashed policy proposals released last year by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) in which the senator proposed sunsetting government programs every five years. Biden previously had taken aim at Scott in multiple speeches over his views on the programs and has given out pamphlets of Scott’s plan to remarks for audience members to read.

Since then, Scott has updated his plan to make an explicit exception for Social Security and Medicare, as well as national security and veterans benefits, The Hill first reported in February.

The plan would still sunset legislation in five years but with the specific exceptions, like for the entitlement programs, after the relentless fire he received from Biden, Democrats, and some fellow Republicans.