Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), echoed Sanders sentiments. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee said “entitlement reform” and “welfare reform” are code for attacks on Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and food stamps programs.
On the Senate floor Thursday night, Sanders asked Rubio and Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) to pledge that Republicans would not advance cuts to Medicare and Social Security after their tax bill.
While both said there is no plan to cut benefits on “current” beneficiaries, neither closed the door to changing the programs for future beneficiaries.
“I am not going to support any cuts to people who are on the program and need those benefits. But I want this program to survive,” Toomey said.
While philosophical discussion and political resolve may be different things in the face of 2018 midterm elections, never say never.
On the welfare front, Trump wants to decrease eligibility and tie benefits to work and he has allies. Since at least last year, House Majority Leader Paul Ryan along with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin T. Brady (R-Texas) have been teeing up a policy proposal called “A Better Way,” which would impose new limits on eligibility and work requirements on most of the country’s anti-poverty benefits.
Correction: This article original referred to Medicare and Medicaid as "Depression-era" entitlement programs. A reader pointed out that those programs were enacted in the 1960s.