WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized one of his own Republican members, Sen. Rick Scott, Thursday over the Florida senator’s proposal to strike down all federal legislation in five years, an issue that President Joe Biden misled the Republican Party. in his State of the Union address.
«That’s not a Republican plan. That was Rick Scott’s plan,» McConnell said in a interview with host Terry Meiners on a Kentucky radio station.
McConnell reiterated what he said last year: «There were no plans to raise taxes on half the American people or cancel Medicare or Social Security.»
The Republican Senate leader also said that both he and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., have said that Social Security and Medicare «shouldn’t touch each other.»
“I think we are in a position of greater authority to state where the party stands than any other senator,” McConnell continued. «It’s just a bad idea. I think it will be a challenge for [Scott] to deal with this in his own reelection in Florida, a state with more seniors than any other state in America.»
The escalating row between the two Republican senators came after Biden challenged Republicans to oppose cuts to entitlement programs during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. He called out Republican lawmakers, including Scott, who previously voiced support for such plans in Wisconsin on Wednesday and Florida on Thursday.
The 12-point plan he unveiled last year as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee says: “All federal legislation expires every five years. If a law is worth upholding, Congress can pass it again.»
Scott, who is running for re-election next year, says Biden is misinterpreting his proposal. The Florida senator is scheduled to host a roundtable event with community leaders and seniors on the preservation and protection of Social Security and Medicare at Sun City Center, Fla., on Friday morning.