Dems say if Scott gets elected to US Senate, Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security in danger

A day after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said America’s massive debt problem is driven by obligations to fund Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, Florida Democrats and activists blasted the comments and asked if Governor Rick Scott feels the same way.

“Social Security and Medicare did not cause the deficit in this country, and Rick Scott is joined at the hip with (President) Trump and Mitch McConnell and the people who voted for this big tax cut for corporations and the filthy rich in this country, and I’m sure he would go right along with their wishes if he gets into the U.S. Senate,” said Barbara DeVane with the Florida Alliance of Retired Americans in a conference call organized by the Florida Democratic Party.

Scott is running against Democrat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson for the U.S. Senate.

Long before Scott became governor in 2010, he was CEO for Columbia/HCA, a major hospital chain, and in the early 1990’s, he became a leading voice against President Bill Clinton’s attempts to impose a national health care system. Democrats circulated a 1994 interview with USA Today that quoted Scott promoting the idea of letting private companies take over state- and federally-run health insurance programs.

“It’s time that people understand and are told the truth about where these candidates stand,” said Alex Lawson,  Executive Director of Social Security Works. Lawson says that McConnell’s comments  – which many see as a threat to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid – are the culmination of a 40-year “attack on our earned benefits.”

Last December, the GOP-led Congress passed – and President Trump signed – the president ’s signature domestic achievement to date: A $1.5 trillion corporate tax cut. That added $1.9 trillion to the national debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office. During an interview on Tuesday with Bloomberg News, McConnell was asked about a recent Treasury Department report showing that the federal deficit grew by 17 percent during the fiscal year 2018, prompting his complaint about the rising costs of the social programs.

“It’s very disturbing, and it’s driven by the three big entitlement programs that are very popular: Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. That’s 70 percent of what we spend every year,” McConnell said. “Hopefully, one year will get serious about this. We haven’t been yet.”

The Scott campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.