Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Friday changed his proposal to federal “sunset” laws every five years, after Democrats and Republicans repeatedly pointed out that it could jeopardize popular programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Scott’s “Save America” plan. say it now that all federal laws will end once every five years “with the specific exceptions of Social Security, Medicare, Homeland Security, veterans benefits, and other essential services.” It previously did not include such exceptions.
“The idea that the senator from Florida wants to put Social Security and Medicare every five years seems a little outrageous to me,” 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 weighed in on Scott’s plan, calling it “Bad ideawhich was not supported by other Republicans. The GOP leader suggested he could give Scott trouble with his own re-election campaign in Florida, a state with many retirees who rely on Social Security and Medicare.
The document now includes a memo to Biden and McConnell saying they should have known somehow that the original proposal “was never intended to apply to Social Security, Medicare or the US Navy.”
Republicans have hinted they will try to change popular retirement benefits in their showdown with Biden over this year’s federal budget, but incoming House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other GOP lawmakers have said they won’t touch the programs . . .
Scott launched its plan a year ago this month — not as a legislative proposal, but as an apparent campaign document amid speculation that he might launch a presidential bid in 2024. He was chairman of the Republican National Senatorial Campaign Committee at the time, but emphasized that the plan did not reflect the position his nobody but himself.
The Florida Republican has since resigned from his seat on the election committee. He was also removed from the Senate Commerce Committee after a failed bid to replace McConnell as Senate Minority Leader.
This week’s review is not the first time Scott has edited his “Rescue America” document, which was an 11-point plan when it first appeared. It is now a 12-point plan.
One of the opening points stated that all Americans “should pay an income tax.” Because half of American families don’t earn enough to pay federal taxes, Scott essentially called for higher taxes on tens of millions of poor and low-income families.
Scott abandoned the weak tax plan within months, replacing it with a call for all working-age adults to work and not receive welfare. As he has now done with Social Security and Medicare, he insist all the time that the tax plan didn’t say what he did.
Scott announced in January that he is running for re-election in Florida and has no plans to run for the White House in 2024.
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