Social Security, Medicare 'Easiest' to Cut, Trump Says

Trump interrupted: "We also have assets that we never had. We never had growth like this. We never had a consumer that was taking in by different means over $10,000 a family."

Cuts to Social Security are already being planned. The Trump administration plans to issue a proposed rule in June to narrow the eligibility criteria used in assessing vocational factors when approving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits for adults.

The plan is a "significant change that would affect about half of applicants for disability benefits," Kathleen Romig, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, told ThinkAdvisor in a previous interview.

The proposed rule, which the Trump administration included in its 2019 fall unified regulatory agenda filed at the Office of Management and Budget, "is super focused on a subset of applicants age 50 and above and [those that] have limited skills and education," Romig said.

On Thursday afternoon, Trump tweeted:

Democrats are going to destroy your Social Security. I have totally left it alone, as promised, and will save it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 23, 2020

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John Larson, D-Conn., issued a joint statement on Jan. 13 urging the Trump administration "to reject this cruel proposed rule and reassess" the Social Security Administration's priorities.

— Check out Trump Plans to Tighten Social Security Disability Criteria on ThinkAdvisor.