Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called on President Donald Trump Sunday to follow his campaign pledge not to cut funding to Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
Republican lawmakers are hoping to cut entitlements after passing tax reform.
“Many argue that you can’t cut taxes because it will drive up the deficit,” Sen. Marco Rubio said recently. “But we have to do two things. We have to generate economic growth, which generates revenue, while reducing spending. That will mean instituting structural changes to Social Security and Medicare for the future.”
Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, said at rally in Reading, Pennsylvania that Trump should “tell Paul Ryan, tell Mitch McConnell that you will veto any bill that cuts Social Security, that cuts Medicare, that cuts Medicaid.”
A press release sent out by Sanders’ office noted remarks from Trump in March 2016 about entitlement funding.
“You know, Paul [Ryan] wants to knock out Social Security, knock it down, way down. He wants to knock Medicare way down,” Trump said on local Wisconsin radio. “I’m not going to cut it, and I’m not going to raise ages, and I’m not going to do all of the things that they want to do. But they want to really cut it, and they want to cut it very substantially, the Republicans, and I’m not going to do that.”
A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a press inquiry.