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Biden Speaks On Social Security And Medicare In Florida. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 09, 2023 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: $300 billion to build these new fabs, they call them, factories to make chips, which we invented here in America, I might add. A PACT Act, which is to save the families and keep our commitment to all those who found ourselves in real trouble.

We bipartisanly passed the Respect for Marriage Act. Don't tell me we think that it (INAUDIBLE). Years ago, I wrote it was great consternation over but we reauthorize it again, the Violence Against Women Act, the Electoral Reform Act.

But, folks, we did that in a bipartisan way. Democrats and Republicans did it. I don't know why they don't want to acknowledge any part of what's making the country great again. But in addition, we passed the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act, that people send a clear message fighting for the sake of fighting gets us nowhere. There's things that -- we got to get things done. That's always been my vision for the country and I think that's what the American people said in this off-year election.

Yesterday, I went to Wisconsin, nice and warm like down here, to talk about how we're building an economy from the bottom up in the middle out. I'm so tired of trickle-down economics, not mob trickle down to my dad's table, and we're growing up. Today, I came to Florida to talk about a critical piece of that plan.

Giving families and seniors just a little more breathing room, my dad would say, to lower your health care cost. And especially important here in Florida. As I am not surprised that -- surprise any one of you it is other people around the nation, you have the highest percentage of seniors of any state in the nation. The highest percentage.

Folks on fixed incomes rely on Social Security and Medicare to get by. They deserve a greater sense of security and dignity. That's what my plan offers. To many Americans, lay in bed at night, staring at the ceiling, wondering what happens if I get sick if I get -- if I get cancer or my wife gets breast cancer or we -- or the kids get really sick. What happens? What happens? We're going to have to sell the house. What are -- what are we going to do? How are we going to pay our bills? I know my dad did that one when he lost insurance at the company he worked for. Look, I get it. I signed the inflation Reduction Act and took on the most powerful interest we've been fighting for years, Pharma to bring down health care costs so you get a better night's sleep. Although we pass it in the middle of last summer, and we will let people know what was in it, no one saw it because it didn't take effect until January 1 of this year. Not admitted too soon.

One in 10 Americans has diabetes. Millions need every day insulin to stay alive. Insulin has been around for 100 years. A matter of fact, the guy who invented and patented began he thought it should be available to everybody. It cost drug companies roughly $10 a vial to make 13 total the packaging, yet Big Pharma has been unfairly charging people hundreds of dollars more making record profits. But not anymore.

We've capped the cost of insulin to $35 for seniors on Medicare. But there are millions of Americans not on Medicare. Millions. Millions, including 200,000 young people with type-one diabetes that need this insulin to save their lives. Let's finish the job and cap insulin to $35 a month for everyone who needs it.

You know we pay more -- I know Charlie knows this. We pay more for prescription drugs than any country in the world. Let me say that again. The United States of America pays more for prescription drugs than any country in the world.

There are many drugs like the expensive cancer drugs that cost up to 10, 12, $14,000 a year. Well, as of this year, that -- they can't be charged no more -- they can pay no more than $3,500 no matter what drug they get, and next year it goes down to $2,000 maximum they had to pay for drugs.

No matter how expensive the drug is, the total for the year is only had to be $2,000. And drug companies raise prices faster than inflation. They'll have to pay Medicare back the difference -- have to pay them back. We'll also make common vaccines like whooping cough and shingles and free from -- instead of 100 to $200 a shot. They're free for all Americans.

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And we're finally getting Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices We've tried to do this for years. And by the way, I've just -- hold for a second. One of the things you know, a lot of you know, we're in the -- in the military, we're able to at the VA, they can negotiate the price they're going to pay for the drugs that soldiers and sailors and airmen and set their need.

But Big Pharma up to now has always stopped their ability to negotiate with them. Well, they only buy them and the only group in the world we can't negotiate with -- wouldn't -- couldn't negotiate with.

But we've finally got it down -- bring it down. Because precision, don't cost doesn't just save seniors money, it will cut the federal budget by hundreds of billions of dollars. Well, I didn't joke. Because instead of paying 400 bucks, they're going to pay 35 bucks for that. That's the government's cost. So, this also brings down the deficit.

Can you, guys have to stand the whole time? I'm sorry. I want to bring you some extra chairs here, for real. Put up chairs out there. That's not right. Are you sure? I know you can do it, but -- all right. If you want to come up on stage, you can do that, too -- if you want to.

Look, this is pretty basic. It's pretty basic. When I meet with the Republican -- new Republican leadership, they say they're not going to raise taxes on anybody at all and they're not going to do that and just going to cut. And I say what would you cut? So, start off again, if you don't -- if you don't stop trying to do away with the legislation I did to pull Big Pharma accountable, I'm going to cut by hundreds of billions of dollars a day. And they looked at me like what the hell's he talking about?

Well, guess what? You pay that cost. Republicans and -- Republican senators and congressmen and a lot of good ones are still threatening to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which contains this legislation. We -- probably the Congress have their way. The power we just gave Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices goes away at a $2,000 cap next year, and prescription drug goes away. The $ 35-a-month insulin limitation goes away.

And by the way, I was able to get enacted $800 a year in savings for Americans to get their health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. But guess what? They want that to go away too. They've been trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act for years and millions of people are on it.

If Republicans, we feel in -- repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, we lose at $800 as well. And all the people who get their health care through the Affordable Care Act -- 20 percent of all the people who get their health care through the Affordable Care Act, live in Florida. 20 percent. And by the way, that's 3.2 million people. Will you still try to take it away?

And I might note just parenthetically get back to this, but we're able to do all this. And I cut the budget by $1.7 trillion dollars -- 1.7. More than any president has in all of American history. And one of the reasons why -- if you could hold for a second, one of the reasons why is because I thought it was time people began to pay their fair share a little bit.

You know, in 2020 there were 55 American corporations in the largest fortune 500 companies who made $40 billion. They paid zero, zero, zero in taxes. And I really did something offensive to them. I made them pay 15 percent, that's less than -- that's less than a nurse pays or a firefighter. But that 15 percent, guess what? It paid for all this.

Raise your hand. And I made it clear when I got elected and I will have to keep it, I kept it, I'm going to keep it. No one making less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in tax, not one single solitary cent. So, folks, this is doable. It's just - I mean, I'm not going to embarrass anybody or myself here by asking you if anybody thinks the federal income tax system is fair, raise your hand.

It's not -- look, you got -- right now, there are a thousand trillionaires in America. I mean, she made billionaires in America, a thousand. It went up from 600 or so just in two years.

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Do you know how much their average pay -- their average percentage of their salary they pay-- their income they pay? 3 percent. Three. Well, it's less than the police officers I met a little bit earlier. Well, folks, look, make no mistake about it. If I -- if they tried to raise the cost of prescription drugs or abolish the Affordable Care Act, I will veto it.

Look. The Affordable Care Act also includes this offer. If a state expands Medicaid, not Medicare, Medicaid for the poor, for lower -- so low-income folks can get health care, the federal government picks up 90 percent of the cost. That's the deal. 90 percent. Well, guess what? State only pays 10 percent. It's a great deal.

39 states said yes, send it to us. Only on -- only in Florida -- 11 states including Florida said no, no. We don't want Medicare. No, I'm serious. Over 1.1 million people in Florida would be eligible for Medicaid if Governor DeSantis just said I agree to expand it. It's not -- this isn't -- this isn't calculus.

And by the way, it would also keep rural hospitals open. Why are they closing? Not -- just think about this all across America. I'll just talk about Florida for just a second. When folks don't have Medicaid commended and they're poor in the rural folks, they -- the hospital can't charge them. There's nobody charged. There's no money to take care of if they come through the door.

But eight rural hospitals have already closed in Florida since 2005 -- eight, and seven others are at risk of closing in rural Florida. That's more than a third of all the rural hospitals in this state. And it matters.

Do you know what the reason -- the further distance to hospitals from your home if you have a tragedy -- if you have an accident, the higher the percentage is you'll die. Because it takes so long to get there to the nearest hospital. That's just a statistic.

The only reason Medicare expansion hasn't happened here is politics. It's time to get this done. It really is. And it'd be done if you've been elected. I really mean it. They really don't get it. It's not like you have the poor state of the union.

Look. Now, you may have seen we had a little bit of a spirit debate at the State of the Union. I -- well, I guess I shouldn't say anymore. But we -- particularly in Social Security and Medicare. Republicans seems shocked when I took out the pamphlets that we're using about cutting Medicare and Social Security.

Read from you know, Senator Scott's proposal, read from a proposal from the senator from Wisconsin, and were offended, liar, liar -- by the way, the last person said that on the floor of the Senate got censored by the Senate about by the Congress. But they're about four or five on how many.

I reminded them that Florida Senator Rick Scott is the guy who ran the Senate campaign committee for Republicans last year and had the plan to sunset. Maybe he changed his mind, maybe seen the Lord but he seemed to want a sunset. Meaning if you don't reauthorize it, it goes away. Sunset Social Security and Medicare every five years.

I was not likely to get voted out but I'll tell -- I'll tell you what, it's like he got cut drastically if you had to do it every five years. The very idea the senator from Florida wants to put social security and Medicare on the chopping block every five years, I find to be somewhat outrageous, so outrageous that you might not even believe it.

But it's what he's -- I won't do it again but I will. Twelve-point American Rescue Plan. One of the points. All federal legislation such as every five years of the law is worth keeping the Congress can pass it all over again.

Look, if it doesn't get reauthorized because out of existence, if Congress wants it, they got to keep it and they got to vote on the same thing. And then, in case there was any doubt, just yesterday, he confirmed that he still -- he still likes his proposal. Well, I guarantee you, it will not happen. I will veto it. I'll defend social security and Medicare.

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And Senator Scott is not the only one. Senator Johnson in Wisconsin does his own party plan. He laid out that social security should be in a chopping block every year. But look, in his case, he said he wants to do it every single year.

Let's remember what this is all about. Some of you are on social security or your parents or grandparents are. You earned it. You earn every single penny you paid into every paycheck you ever got from the time you were a teenager, had money taken out for these programs. They are more than government programs. They're a promise. A promise we make.

Work hard and contribute and when the time comes for you to retire, you'll be there. We'll be there for you to help you out. It's been a sacred trust the rock-solid guarantee generations of Americans have counted on and it works.

The number of seniors living in poverty has plummeted since Social Security is created. And now these guys want to cut it. I don't get it. I really don't. I don't know who they think they are.

We saw on Tuesday night Republicans don't like me being called out on this. They were not very happy with me pointing this out. But their words speak -- look, I know that a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare Well, let me say this. If that's your dream, I'm your nightmare, OK? And by the way, that may be redundant. I think you already think I am. But if anyone tries to cut Social Security, we're going to stop it. If anyone tries to cut Medicare, we're going to stop. And look, when I call Republicans out of this State of the Union, they sounded and they started yelling liar -- not all, but some of them yell liar, liar. And I said that means you all are for keeping Social Security. You know, all stood up and said yes. I said we -- well, we got a deal.

It sounded like they're agreeing and take these cuts off the table. I sure hope so. I really mean it. I hope so. Because they stood up -- the vast majority who said, yes, we will not cut social security and Medicare.

Now granted, I believe when I see it, but we're going to both lay down our budgets very soon. The Speaker of the House has been reasonable in terms of discussions with me so far. He talked about all these things. I said, look, why don't we just -- by -- I think it's March -- first week in March.

Why don't we just lay out our budgets? You put yours down, I'll put mine down. And our people sit and compare them, decide where we can make a compromise if we can make a compromise.

When I put mine down, they're going to see I lower the deficit this year by $2 trillion, and what I'm talking about. And by the way, the last fellow had this job, who never showed up at the transition, I might add, but the last guy who had this job, he increased the federal debt, which took over 200 years to accumulate. That's what the debt is, by the way. We're talking about the federal debt. It's every penny owed since the inception of this nation, and the interest rates have followed it, OK? That's what it is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: You've been watching President Biden, there in Tampa, Florida. This is day two of a two-day swing, post- State of the Union address. He's at the University of Tampa, a lot of young people there. But this message is clearly targeted toward older voters there.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Talking about protecting and strengthening Medicare, and Social Security as well, after what we watched the State of the Union earlier this week.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and targeting really one person in particular, and that's one Florida Republican Rick Scott.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: And accusing him again of going back to what he had put out in his own plan. There are pamphlets of this plan throughout all the seats there as the president is speaking, but that is wanting to sunset entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. Rick Scott has tweeted at the president. We'll get into all of this in just a moment. But we do want to begin with CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz along with two CNN political commentators, Alice Stewart, and Ana Navarro.

Arlette, President Biden sharpening his messaging post that state of the union in several battleground states. We saw him in Wisconsin yesterday. I think it's kind of hard to call Florida a battleground right now, even though that's what he liked to see, but sticking to this one message, and that is defending Medicare and Social Security.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bianna and Victor. President Biden showing that he is nowhere close to backing down from this fight with Republicans as he is trying to paint himself and Democrats as the defenders of Social Security and Medicare.

Of course, the president traveling down to Florida, a senior-rich state, even though in the state of Florida, he lost seniors by about 10 points against former President Donald Trump. But he traveled there and he specifically returned to naming names as he is making this argument.

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Once again taking on Florida Senator Rick Scott, who had introduced -- unveiled a plan that would sunset all federal legislation including Social Security and Medicare. Now, Senator Mitch McConnell did not see that as a winning argument for Republicans and tried to shoot it down initially. And today, Senator Rick Scott was on our air repeatedly trying to defend himself saying that he does not intend to cut those programs.

But this is something that the White House ultimately believes will play into their favor. They know that this issue of Social Security and Medicare is popular, particularly when it comes to senior voters. It's also interesting, the president didn't just argue about Social Security and Medicare, he was also talking about trying to lower prescription drug costs and healthcare costs. That's something also that could resonate with older voters.

Of course, you also can't deny the two giant Republican elephants who are in the room in the state of Florida, as it is home to both Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who the president did briefly mentioned in his remarks, and also former President Donald Trump who could serve as two of his chief Republican rivals should he launch a 2024 reelection bid in the coming weeks.

BLACKWELL: Alice, let me come to you. The president, as Arlette said, obviously thinks he has a winning issue here, handing out the pamphlets, and changing the signage to focus on Medicare. Did Republicans in their behavior, and by putting Rick Scott of all people in -- and I'll come to you on him a little later, but putting him out front and behaving the way they did, they serve this up to the president?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Look. First, Victor, I don't -- I think the behavior, the heckling of the president during the State of the Union was unacceptable. But as far as this issue, look, Rick Scott wrote this up in a plan that is now collecting dust in Washington, DC. The most important thing is we have Mitch McConnell who says Republicans are not going to cut Medicare and Social Security. We have Kevin -- we have the leader -- Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy says this is not what we are talking about.

You talk to Republicans here in Washington, DC, they are not looking to cut Social Security and Medicare. That is completely off the table. But here's what's happening is that President Biden is really using this as a fake argument. This is a false foil. And he certainly would much rather talk about something that is not true than run on his record, which many Americans are not satisfied with. That's why we see polls show that four in 10 Americans feel as though they are worse off financially.

And here's the - look, I don't blame the White House for going after this and using this because it's clearly resonating with Democrats. The problem, once people recognize that what the president says about Republicans cutting these entitlement programs when they realize that's not the case, then they're really going to be left in a lurch trying to find a message that actually works. Because this is not a true argument for the Democrats and Republicans are going to work feverishly to make sure that the American people understand Republicans are not going to cut those programs.

GOLODRYGA: Ana, to you now. The location of where the president is is interesting given that "another president, President Obama, the Democrats took a shellacking in the midterms," a historic shellacking, we should note in terms of losing to Republicans. Republicans are out fundraising Democrats in the state right now. The voter registration gap continues to grow.

Clearly, they've got a lot of ground to cover here. DeSantis is saying this is a strong red state at this point. Is that the case? And do you think it's smart that the president is there this early and without even announcing that he's running yet?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, I don't -- I don't think he's there because it's Florida, because it's a red state or a purple state or a blue state. I think he's there because it's where the most amount of people percentage wise folks affected by these programs, look, the most amount percentage wise of senior citizens, the most people on Obama Care, people that would be affected by Medicare expansion. So, that's why he is there because of the message. And because he is taking it, giving it on the chin to Rick Scott, who can deny this all he wants.

But he -- Joe Biden's got the receipts. You can see how much he relishes and enjoys lifting up the actual pamphlet. It's literally in writing. He is not making this up. And one of the things I disagree with Joe Biden on -- I loved everything he said. I thought it was right on point. But for the part about Charlie Crist, you're not done yet.

No, no joke. Charlie Crist is done. He lost by 20 points. And what Republican -- the Democratic Party needs in Florida is a younger generation, a new stable of candidates, people that can energize the Democratic base. So, folks like Charlie Crist put a fork in them. They are done. They need new Democrats energizing Floridians.

BLACKWELL: Ana, let me stay with you. You know Rick Scott's history. I first interviewed him when he was running for governor of Florida back in 2010. Rick Scott was the CEO of Columbia HCA.

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When he was CEO, the company defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, which is for military members. In 2003, they settled with the Department of Justice the largest health care fraud case in U.S. history, $1.7 billion dollars in all. Now, that he is the face of trust us we'll protect Medicare seems problematic for Republicans, even with the speaker saying we're not going to cut Social Security and Medicare.

NAVARRO: It is problematic for Republicans, which is why you've heard the Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell state this is not representative of Republicans. But I could not figure out -- first, I don't know how in the world we made him the governor of Florida. It's an indictment on us in Florida that that happened.

This is one of the most awkward men, poor communicators, strange duck, who basically put in hundreds of millions of dollars of his own money to buy himself elected office, and he has achieved it. But then it was Republicans in the Senate who made him the face, the chair of the Republican campaign arm in the Senate, a huge mistake. He then had the gumption to try to contest Mitch McConnell's leadership, which got forwarded.

But I think Rick Scott is as much an irritant and a thorn in the Republicans' side as he is to Joe Biden. He is frankly, not a thorn on Joe Biden's side, he is a gift that keeps on giving to Joe Biden. And he's been confronted about his plan, which is in writing, not only by Democrats, not only by Joe Biden but by Fox News, by people in his own party.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

STEWART: If I can --

GOLODRYGA: Yes, just --

STEWART: And thought -- certainly the Florida expert, but I will say I worked on Rick Scott's race in 2010.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

STEWART: And he campaigned on jobs, jobs, jobs, and he delivered on creating jobs in the state of Florida. But he is by no means and by no stretch of the imagination, the face of the Republican Party on this issue.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

STEWART: And you need to listen to Kevin McCarthy, who told President Bush at the -- or President Biden at the White House -- BLACKWELL: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

STEWART: -- that these programs are not on the chopping blocks, and that's -- he's the face of the Republican Party, as well as --

GOLODRYGA: Just --

STEWART: -- Mitch McConnell.

GOLODRYGA: Just ask Mitch McConnell what he thinks about Rick Scott.

BLACKWELL: Yes

STEWART: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: That give you a sense of where he stands in party. Arlette Saenz, Alice Stewart, and Ana Navarro, thank you.

BLACKWELL: The FBI just released these new images of the suspected Chinese spy balloon being analyzed at their headquarters. Now, we've learned that the balloon contain technology capable of monitoring U.S. communications. We have more on that next.

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