‘Social Security won’t be touched, other than if there’s fraud or something. It’s going to be strengthened,’ the president say in a recent Fox News interview.
President Donald Trump said in a new interview that he will not touch Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid amid his administration’s efforts to downsize federal spending.
“Look, Social Security won’t be touched, other than if there’s fraud or something. It’s going to be strengthened. But it won’t be touched,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview released Wednesday evening.
The president also vowed not to cut Medicare or Medicaid, two federal health insurance programs for elderly people and low-income people, respectively.
“Medicare, Medicaid, none of that stuff is going to be touched,” he said.
“Now, if there are illegal migrants in the system, we’re going to get them out.”
During his campaign, Trump said that he would not touch Medicare or Social Security, and at one point, proposed ending income taxes on Social Security checks. A projection from the Congressional Budget Office has shown the Social Security program will become insolvent by the 2030s.
Last week, the Trump administration announced it would shrink the Affordable Care Act’s navigator program annual budget by 90 percent to $10 million. Navigators are stationed throughout the country to help people enroll in Obamacare and Medicaid coverage and are credited with boosting the programs’ enrollment in recent years.
This week, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said it found that millions of dead people were listed in the Social Security Administration (SSA) database as eligible for benefits, with more than 12 million people over the age of 120.
The new acting head of Social Security said on Wednesday that “these individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits” and expressed confidence in DOGE audits.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement this week that referred to a Social Security inspector general report.
“A previous investigation revealed the SSA paid at least $71.8 billion in improper payments,” she said. “The Social Security Administration is now working to find even more waste, fraud, and abuse in the Administration’s whole-of-government effort to protect American taxpayers.”
