President Joe Biden jabbed at potential 2024 rival Ron DeSantis and Republicans as he vowed to protect entitlement spending and lower health costs for Americans in a post-State of the Union visit to the Florida governor’s home turf.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden jabbed at potential 2024 rival Ron DeSantis and Republicans as he vowed to protect entitlement spending and lower health costs for Americans in a post-State of the Union visit to the Florida governor’s home turf.
“1.1 million people in Florida would be eligible for Medicaid if Governor DeSantis just said, ‘I agree to expand it.’ This isn’t calculus,” said Biden during a speech Thursday at the University of Tampa. DeSantis has opposed initiatives to expand Medicaid coverage in the state.
Biden said that Medicaid expansion would have been completed if Charlie Crist, whom DeSantis easily beat for reelection in 2022, had won.
“I really don’t get it, it isn’t like you’re the poorest state in the union,” the president said.
The visit to Florida is the latest effort by Biden to put Republicans on the back foot over proposals by some members of their caucus to cut or alter Medicare and Social Security programs as part of a push to slash federal spending — and to lay the groundwork for an expected reelection campaign. A 2024 run could pit Biden against DeSantis, who is widely expected to challenge former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination.
Tuesday’s State of the Union address saw some Republican lawmakers jeer Biden as he vowed he would veto any attempt to touch entitlement spending, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, yelling at the president that he was a “liar.” Biden seized on the moment, saying he hoped the issue was settled and he could count on Republicans to no longer seek cuts against entitlement programs.
“Look I know that a lot of Republicans — their dream is to cut Social Security, Medicare. Well let me say this — if that’s your dream, I’m your nightmare,” said Biden.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said he would not pursue changes to Social Security and Medicare as part of spending cuts, but changes to the program have been pursued by Republicans in the past. The Republican Study Committee — a caucus that includes more than 150 Republicans in the House of Representatives — proposed raising the eligibility age for both Medicare and Social Security in its fiscal 2023 budget.
At Thursday’s event, the White House placed a copy of a plan drafted by Rick Scott — the Florida senator who steered the GOP campaign operation for the upper chamber — that would force a vote on all government programs every five years on the seat of every attendee.
Proposed cuts to the programs are deeply unpopular — especially among seniors who are historically the demographic most likely to turn out during an election. Just 17% of Americans said they supported reducing spending on the program in an Economist/YouGov poll earlier this year, while seven in 10 Americans said they opposed any such move.
Entitlement programs have already crept into the 2024 presidential race. Last month, Trump released a video saying Republicans should use the debt ceiling to cut federal spending, but also said they should not take ”a single penny” from the entitlement programs.
Trump has also needled DeSantis over the issue, with social media posts that seek to tie him with former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who famously sought and failed to replace Medicare with a program that would give seniors money to instead purchase private health insurance.
During an October visit to the state, Biden and DeSantis briefly put aside their differences to tour areas devastated by Hurricane Ian. But since then, the two have resumed attacking each other, with Biden in November labeling DeSantis “Trump incarnate.” DeSantis in his second-term inauguration address targeted Biden on issues including inflation, government spending, immigration and energy.
Jeremy Redfern, the governor’s deputy press secretary, said on Thursday there were “no plans” for the governor to meet Biden in Tampa.
A Monmouth University poll released Thursday showed DeSantis out-polling Trump 53% to 40% in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up. Each garnered 33% when Republican and GOP-leaning US voters were asked who they want to see as their nominee.
–With assistance from Michael Smith.
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