President Joe Biden took aim at any Republicans seeking to roll back social services, including Medicare and the protections under the Affordable Care Act, during a fervent State of the Union address on Thursday evening.
In an impassioned moment of his speech, Biden vowed to protect Social Security and health care benefits for seniors, adding that the White House would vehemently oppose any efforts to raise the retirement age to qualify for Social Security payments. Republicans have regularly threatened to cut such programs in an effort to rein in the national debt. And the retirement age was a key question on the GOP debate stage.
Biden said he wouldn’t stand for any changes to such programs.
“Working people who built this country pay more into Social Security than millionaires and billionaires do. It’s not fair,” Biden said. “We have two ways to go on Social Security: Republicans will cut Social Security and give more tax cuts to the wealthy. I will protect and strengthen Social Security and make the wealthy pay their fair share.”
“Many of my Republican friends want to put Social Security on the chopping block,” he said. “If anyone here tries to cut Social Security or Medicare, or raise the retirement age, I will stop you.”
The president devoted a large portion of his address to his efforts to limit the escalating cost of living, pointing to work his administration has done to lower drug prices and alleviate the burden of student loan debt. He also urged a change in the tax code that would make billionaires pay much more in federal taxes.
“For folks at home, does anybody really think the tax code is fair?” he said Thursday. “Do you really think the wealthy and big corporations need another $2 trillion in tax breaks? I sure don’t. I’m going to keep fighting like hell to make it fair!