Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has changed his proposal to “sunset” the federal law every five years after Democrats and Republicans repeatedly pointed out that it could endanger popular programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Scott’s “Rescue America” plan now he said that all federal laws would expire every five years “with the special exception of Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans’ benefits, and other essential services.” Before including none of these exceptions.
“The idea that the senator from Florida wants to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every five years I find a little outrageous,” President Joe Biden said in Florida last week, continuing months of relentless criticism of Scott’s proposal.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also tore into Scott’s plan, calling it “bad idea” which other Republicans did not support. GOP leaders suggested they could give Scott trouble with his re-election campaign in Florida, a state where many retirees rely on Social Security and Medicare.
The document now includes notes for Biden and McConnell saying they should have known the original proposal “never applied to Social Security, Medicare, or the US Navy.”
Republicans have signaled they will seek changes to popular pension benefits during their showdown with Biden over this year’s federal budget, but new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other GOP lawmakers have since said they won’t touch the program. mentioned. .
Scott rolled out a plan a year ago this month – not as a legislative proposal, but as a campaign document that appeared amid speculation that he could launch a 2024 presidential bid. He served at the time as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, but insisted that the plan did not reflect the position of anyone but himself.
The Florida Republican has since resigned from his campaign committee position. He was also removed from the Senate Commerce Committee after failing to replace McConnell as Senate minority leader.
This week’s revision is not the first time Scott has edited the “Rescue America” document, which when it first came out, was an 11-point plan. It is now a 12 point plan.
One of the original points said that all Americans “should pay income tax.” Because half of American households don’t make enough money to pay their federal tax debt, Scott is essentially calling for a tax increase on tens of millions of working poor and low-income families.
Scott removed the poor tax plan in a few months, replacing it with a call for all adults to work and not receive welfare. As they have now done with Social Security and Medicare, they insisted on everything that the tax plan does not say what it says.
Scott announced in January that he would seek re-election in Florida and would not run for the White House in 2024.