(Photo: AP)
President Donald Trump stated during a Wednesday interview with CNBC that entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security could be on the chopping block this year as they are the "easiest of all things" to cut.
CNBC anchor Joe Kernen's last question to Trump during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was: "Entitlements ever be on your plate?"
Trump responded: "Uh, at some point they will be. We have tremendous growth; we're going to have tremendous growth. This next year … it'll be toward the end of the year, the growth is going to be incredible and at the right time we will take a look at that. That's [entitlements] actually the easiest of all things [to cut], if you look, 'cause it's such a big percentage."
Kernan replied: "It's one of the things you wouldn't do in the past, though, in terms of Medicare…"
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.
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.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2024. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
