Mitch had an interview with Bloomberg News where he said
… rising federal deficits and debt on a bipartisan unwillingness to contain spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security ...
What really increased to deficit was:
Former Republican Governor Tommy Thompson recently said “… There were some good things in Obamacare. There were some bad things. The problem was it was just a partisan bill. I’m not blaming either party. … If you look back in history, when you have big moments in society, it’s always best done in a bipartisan way: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, workers comp. ...”
Thompson’s statement is false.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid were ALWAYS partisan Democratic programs.
Without overwhelming Democratic majorities, these entitlement programs would not exist.
Social Security passed with 284 Democratic votes (66%) in the House, 60 Democratic votes (63%) and signed into law by a Democratic President.
Medicare/Medicaid passed with 237 Democratic votes in the House, 57 Democratic votes and signed into law by a Democratic President.
There were some Republican votes, but as you can see they were meaningless. No one can believe Republicans would have come up with Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid on their own …
Let’s count some of the ways Republicans opposed Social Security:
- The 1936 Republican Platform had a “… pay-as-you-go policy …”
- In the 1936 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Alf Landon, governor of Kansas, described Social Security as "a fraud on the workingman" and "a cruel hoax.""The Republican party will have nothing to do with any plan that involves prying into the personal records of 26 million people," Landon said in one address. The Republican National Committee sent out mailers campaigning against it. …"
- George W. Bush told conservatives in the midst of the 2000 campaign that Republicans "… have to find a way to allow people to invest a percentage of their payroll tax in the capital markets" -- a new incarnation of the individual accounts or privatization concept. …”. (Yes Bush came up with the concept) . For more detail, George W Bush “… supports partially privatizing the system to create voluntary private savings accounts so individuals can invest part of their social security taxes (up to 2 percentage points) in the stock market. …". The achieve privatization we would have to borrow $1TR!
Let’s count some of the ways Republicans opposed Medicare/Medicaid:
- Medicare - Paul Ryan’s FY 2015 Budget “… $150 billion in savings by turning Medicare into a voucher program for anyone 56 years old or younger, … “premium support program” would help control Medicare costs. It would not be implemented before 2024. ...”
- Medicaid - Paul Ryan’s FY 2015 Budget “… $913 billion in savings would come from turning Medicaid into a block grant program …"
There are other examples including Reagan on Socialized Medicine aka Medicare/Medicaid.
Trump, Ryan and McConnell created a huge deficit problem so they could force cutting social programs while redistributing the wealth to the rich through tax cuts.