President Biden on Saturday slammed protesters gathered outside the venue where he spoke, calling them “idiots” for labeling Democrats “socialists” for their approach to health care policy.
“Social Security and Medicare are more than government programs, they are a promise. They are a promise. Work hard and contribute and when the time comes things will be easier for you,” Biden said in comments to Jones Elementary in Joliet, Illinois. ‘It is a rock-solid guarantee, a rock-solid commitment. Generations of Americans have counted on it and it works.”
“I love those signs when I came in – socialism. Give me a break, what idiots,” the president added. “No one ever doubts that I mean what I say, sometimes of course I say everything I mean.”
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the school holding placards carrying phrases such as “Let’s Go Brandon” and “Socialism Sucks,” according to The hill.
With the midterm elections just days away, Biden’s closing message focuses heavily on alleged Republican threats to Social Security and Medicare. Biden’s comments on Saturday were aimed at promoting the misrepresented inflation reduction bill, specifically those that cut drug costs for seniors.
The legislation gives Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices directly with drug companies, sets insulin at $35 per month under Medicare Part D, and limits over-the-counter prescription costs to $2,000 per month under Part D.
Democrats have tried to sell the legislation as part of an effort to reduce inflation, but even Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist, noted that the legislation was poorly called because it wouldn’t make sense to target inflation. He eventually voted for it.
“According to the CBO and other economic organizations studying this bill, it will actually have minimal impact on inflation,” Sanders said. “Obviously, today’s inflation is pushing the average person even further behind.”
Biden on Saturday presented Republicans as obstructionists for rejecting a bill that wouldn’t accomplish what it purported to do.
“Every Democrat in Congress voted for it,” he said. “Every Republican voted against.” Biden praised Democratic congressional delegations and lawmakers such as Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren for fighting for the reforms.
The caps on prescription drug and insulin prices, Biden warned, will “all be gone if they pass,” hinting at the impending GOP sweep. “But I’ll veto it,” he said, making the crowd laugh.
The president denounced Senator Rick Scott’s “12 Point Plan to Rescue America” for its provision that would prompt Congress to reevaluate federal law every five years.
“They also come for your Social Security and health care,” Biden said. Rick Scott’s framework would “put them on the chopping block every five years,” after which they’ll either vote to keep, scrap or eliminate the programs, he claimed.
“All federal legislation expires every five years. If the law is worth enforcing, Congress can re-enact it. So every five years we have to vote. In other words, it will cease to exist if we don’t vote to keep it,” he said.
Senator Ron Johnson raises an even more extreme timeline, Biden said. “He thinks Social Security and health care should be on the chopping block every year,” he shouted. “You’ve paid for this all your life. Now these guys want to take it away. Who do they think they are?’ The GOP also still plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, he told the public.
Speaking at Union Station in Washington, DC on Wednesday, Biden urged a return to civility and decency in an effort to lower political temperatures ahead of the midterm elections. He condemned political violence and intimidation directed against Republicans or Democrats.
His appeal to calm came after a mentally ill conspiracy theorist broke into the San Francisco home of President Nancy Pelosi and violently assaulted her husband with a hammer.
Biden was joined at the meeting by Democratic Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin of Illinois and Representative Lauren Underwood (D., Illinois).
