BATTLEGROUND

Biden Trolls Republicans on Social Security After Rick Scott Puts His Foot in It

“We want this fight,” a senior White House official told CNN. “We relish this fight.”

President Joe Biden ramped up his tussle with Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) on Thursday, putting a copy of Scott’s much-maligned social security proposal on every seat at an event in Tampa for his post-State of the Union tour. Biden already took aim at Scott on Tuesday night, accusing some Republicans of wanting to gut social security and Medicare through Scott’s proposal to sunset every federal law every five years. And in an awkward interview on CNN on Thursday morning, Scott was forced to admit that “no” it wasn’t a mistake to suggest his plan would do just that—although he insisted “nobody believes that I wanna cut Medicare or Social Security, I’ve never said it.” Biden kept the issue center stage on Thursday, emphasizing his promise to guard the programs. Florida is notably a state that depends on those entitlement programs, and Biden’s speech suggested it would become a key election issue. “We want this fight,” a senior White House official told CNN. “We relish this fight.”