Trump Using COVID-19 As A Cover To Gut Social Security And Medicare, Critics Charge
Critics erupted Saturday after President Donald Trump signed four executive actions that included deferring payroll taxes that provide funding for both Social Security and Medicare.
While Trump characterized the move as a financial boost for Americans struggling amid the COVID-19 crisis, critics blasted it as a cynical ploy to do what Trump has long intended to do: Gut the vitally important social service programs just as Americans need them more than ever during the pandemic.
“The American people desperately need relief,” noted Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.). “Instead, the president decided to defund Social Security and Medicare.”
Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called Trump’s action a “reckless war on Social Security.” He’s “laying out his road map” to cut the program, he warned in a statement.
House Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.) called the move “a poorly disguised first step in an effort to fully dismantle these vital programs by executive fiat.”
Trump also signed an order providing $400 a week in enhanced unemployment benefits — down from the $600 weekly benefit that expired last month.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) called the orders a “stunt.”
This is all a stunt—cutting unemployment benefits and threatening Social Security and Medicare only deepen the pain people are feeling.
Congress must act in a way that meets the scale of this crisis. Trump and Senate Republicans need to stop the games and come to the table now. https://t.co/Jw60t5gtt9— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) August 8, 2020
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) pointed out that the president just “unilaterally cut Social Security and your unemployment benefits. In the middle of a pandemic.”
Don’t let the occupant of the White House distract you.
He just unilaterally cut Social Security and your unemployment benefits. In the middle of a pandemic.— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) August 8, 2020
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...
