TAMPA--U.S. President Joe Biden travelled on Thursday to Florida and positioned his Democratic party as the sole protector of Social Security and Medicare in an aim to reclaim the battleground state that has leaned Republican in recent years.
Speaking to a group of supporters, Biden outlined a list of achievements, such as allowing the federal government to negotiate Medicare drug prices and impose price caps on insulin, and said Republicans are fighting to roll back those efforts while also seeking cuts to popular social safety net programs.
"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," Biden said.
Biden's trip is part of a blitz to at least 20 states by the president and members of his Cabinet following his State of the Union speech to Congress on Tuesday. Biden has been preparing to launch his re-election bid as top aides and Democratic strategists debate how seriously he should campaign in Florida. The last Democratic presidential candidate to win in Florida was Barack Obama in 2012.
Both former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are early favourites in the fight for the Republican nomination for the next presidential election in 2024. Both would have a home field advantage over Biden in Florida.
Still, Biden believes his policies could resonate in the state, where one in five residents is over age 65. Polls show Democrats are perceived as more likely to protect the Social Security and Medicare programmes, which provide basic income and healthcare to senior citizens. Biden has sought to link Republicans to the idea of cutting funding for both programmes as part of negotiations over increasing the United States' $31.4 trillion debt limit.
Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, has repeatedly said his party will not try to scale back the nation's two largest benefit programmes. Biden drew boos from Republicans at his State of the Union speech when he asserted some hardline conservatives want to end Social Security and Medicare. He then said he took their response as a deal to protect the programmes.
"So folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security, Medicare is off the books now, right? All right. We’ve got unanimity," Biden said. "I enjoy conversion."
The White House has not laid out a detailed plan on how to fund the programmes when they start to become insolvent, which is expected as soon as 2028 in the case of Medicare’s hospitalization benefits. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Biden insists he's building an economy for working people, but real wages and savings are down, while the cost of feeding a family is up.
"Floridians, like all Americans, want solutions, but Biden and Democrats are too blissfully out-of-touch to care," she said in a statement.
Florida, the nation's third-most-populous state, was long seen as a critical battleground in U.S. presidential elections. But Democrats have struggled there in recent elections, and DeSantis last year won a second term as governor by nearly 20 percentage points.
"There is no reason at this point to devote national resources into Florida in 2024," a senior Democrat told Reuters at a recent party conference in Philadelphia.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz abruptly resigned from his post in early January as calls for his ouster grew. Democrats are scheduled to find a replacement this month.
