Summary
Donald Trump and Elon Musk are falsely claiming that tens of millions of dead people collect Social Security to justify cutting “waste” and “fraud.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick echoed this, calling Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid “wrong” while supporting Musk’s plan to slash $1 trillion in spending.
Despite Trump’s public assurances, House Republicans’ budget proposals include deep cuts to these programs while prioritizing massive tax breaks for the wealthy.
Experts note improper Social Security payments are minimal, contradicting Musk’s claims.
Either Medicare or Medicaid is funded by the states, not the federal government, can never remember which.
kagis
Hmm. I guess it’s Medicaid, but it’s only part state-funded.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/245350/total-medicaid-federal-and-state-expenditure-in-the-us-since-1966/
I haven’t been following it, but I understand from recent news articles that there’s some dispute between the budget that the Senate Republicans want and the House Republicans want. IIRC, the Senate was trying to get their version moving, as they said that it wouldn’t take as long. House Republicans bill involves more spending cuts, and Trump apparently indicated that he’s onboard with waiting for the the House version.
https://www.newsweek.com/social-security-being-cut-republican-budget-2030704
I believe that normally those budget numbers are discussed on a 10-year basis, so that’s $200 billion/year.
Welfare programs are actually where the real money is, not in federal wages. If you want to significantly cut taxation in the US, gotta bite into the welfare programs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_federal_budget
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandatory_spending
At a high level:
And a breakdown of mandatory spending for 2024:
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60843/html
EDIT: Yes, the mandatory-spending $2 trillion cut figure is over ten years, so they need to reduce the above numbers by $200 billion. Apparently there’s also a push to do $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over the same ten-year period.
Medicaid and Medicare are adminsitered by the states but receive the bulk of their funding from the federal govt. The Democrat states will continue to run these programs but the Republican states will abandon Medicaid and privatise Medicare.
If you’re unsure what’s the difference between Medicare and Medicaid, ask, don’t lecture.