It was a thing of beauty actually. Rick Scott (R-FL), who doesn’t like it when you don’t play nice in politics, decided that it was time to get this Social Security and Medicare monkey off his back. So, he went to work and created a new bill. He’s calling it the Protect Our Seniors Act.
And it’s a doosey!
It adds $80 billion to the Social Security and Medicare programs to help keep them alive longer. The bill takes the $80 billion off the table from the Inflation Reduction Act that was supposed to go to hiring 87,000 IRS agents, and gives it to the Medicare and Social Security programs. It also requires that any cuts to either of those programs in the future be passed by a two-thirds majority in Congress. That means 292 House members have to vote to cut the program, and so do 67 Senators. That’s a tall order in this partisan era.
What makes this bill so particularly sweet is that even though Joe Biden actually is on videotape back in his Senate days saying he was for cutting Social Security, he is on the trail still today after the GOP has said they wouldn’t touch either program with cuts. Biden went out on the stump the day after the State of the Union speech and told crowds in Florida and Wisconsin, both battleground states, that the Republicans were trying to take away Social Security and Medicare…that was a blantent lie. So, Scott decided he’d put his money where his mouth was. And he did it in a very creative way.
Think of the outcome here for a minute. If you vote for this bill, you’re going to be voting to save Social Security and Medicare (something the Democrats are screaming about constantly), and you’re also going against Biden’s bid to increase the power of the IRS by denying them 87,000 new agents. If you vote against the bill to save the IRS agents, you’re basically saying the IRS is more important than senior citizens. How do you think that is going to play out when you go up for reelection next time?
And it’s going to take away a long-time Democrat campaign issue. It’ll shut Joe Biden up on the campaign trail. He won’t be able to say with any shred of credibility, that the GOP is ready to push grandma over the cliff in her wheel chair. At the same time, it gives the GOP an issue to talk about. They’ve just become the party that wants to save grandma from going over the cliff…while Democrats would rather push her over using an army of new IRS agents to do the job. That my friends, is sheer brilliance!
This is more of the type of thinking that the Republican Party needs. I’ve been waiting for this type of “gotcha” for a good long while now, and I give a big thank you to Senator Scott for seeing it through. There’s no way that the Democrats can spin this except to say that yes, we ought to go along with it!
In a nutshell, that is the type of politics that the American people will love. Who could be against senior citizens at the expense of hiring more IRS agents? Who is that stupid? It’s a well thought out move, and one that is going to not only get Biden off of Scott’s back, but kick him in the teeth as well. Now, if only the Senate would dare take up the bill and pass it…but if they don’t, more fodder for the GOP!
Carry on world…you’re dismissed!
The Lone Cactus 
It is a great Bill but it will mean nothing if the media fails to report it.
So far the first and only place I learned of this bill was by reading it here.
I doubt you’ll hear much about it from our, so called, “News” media. I hope I’m wrong!
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Me too. I would HOPE that the vast media empire out there would think that something that would put an end to Biden’s lie could at the very least be reported on!
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Hmmm. Will Scott run in 2024?
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My sources are telling me he is seriously considering it. My hunch is that he’s not going to, being from Florida. There will already be two people with much higher chances than him of getting the nomination from that state (Trump and DeSantis).
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Being in the Senate gives Scott an advantage over DeSantis, but I’d like to see Scott remain where he is for now, and I would also encourage DeSantis to hold off until 2028. It may be a matter of timing, but you’re better at this than I am.
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Mustang, I’m not so sure I’d agree with you that I’m better at the timing thing. It’s just a gut level feeling, and calling to some folks I know.
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Reblogged this on boudica.us.
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