In 2016 Trump Promised Ohioans, “We’re Going to Save Our Social Security. We’re Going to Save Our Medicare.”
COLUMBUS — Donald Trump has broken his promises to Ohioans on the economy, health care and student debt — and now he’s going back on his campaign pledge to “save our Social Security” and “save our Medicare” by opening the door to cuts.
“Donald Trump’s comments today are straight out of Mick Mulvaney’s playbook,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper. “Trump’s chief of staff likes to call Social Security ‘welfare,’ even though it is an earned benefit that working people pay into, and Mulvaney has been pushing for Social Security and Medicare cuts going back to his time in Congress as a Freedom Caucus extremist. For Ohio, cuts to Social Security and Medicare would be devastating. Nearly 2.4 million Ohioans receive Social Security insurance benefits — totaling more than $3 billion every month. Medicare provides health coverage for nearly 2 million older Ohioans and hundreds of thousands of Ohioans with disabilities.
“And this isn’t even the first time we’ve heard about Medicare cuts from Trump. Senate Republicans who have discussed it with the president say he has called it a ‘second-term project.’ That makes it clear what’s at stake in 2020 — if Trump wins a second term, he will cut Medicare and Social Security, breaking his promise to the people of Ohio.”
In June 2016 at a speech in St. Clairsville, Ohio, Trump said, “We’re going to save our Social Security. We’re going to save our Medicare. Others want to cut. We’re going to save so much.”
Since he’s been in office, Trump has proposed and supported cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Trump’s last budget proposal cut Social Security programs by $26 billion and slashed funding for the Social Security Administration, which helps retirees and people with disabilities get the support they need and have earned.
