{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/sanders-to-trump-keep-your-promises-to-protect-social-security-and-medicare", "Sanders to Trump: Keep Your Promises to Protect Social Security and Medicare", "2017-12-05", "2017", "2017-12", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "www.sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Sanders to Trump: Keep Your Promises to Protect Social Security and Medicare\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tTuesday, December 5, 2017\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tWASHINGTON, Dec. 5 \u2013 Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) challenged President Donald Trump to keep his repeated promise to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from Republican attempts to cut the programs.\r\n\u201cMr. President, on the campaign trail you said over and over again you would not cut Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid. And today, I am asking you nothing more than to keep your word. Don't lie to the American people. Millions of people voted for you because you said you would not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Keep your word. Tell Senate Leader McConnell and tell House Speaker Paul Ryan that you will veto any legislation that cuts these programs,\u201d Sanders said on the Senate floor Tuesday.\r\nTrump said\u00a0repeatedly\u00a0during the campaign that he would not cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.\u00a0\r\nIn March 2016, then-candidate Trump said that unlike House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) he would protect the programs.\r\n\u201cYou know, Paul [Ryan] wants to knock out Social Security, knock it down, way down. He wants to knock Medicare way down,\u201d Trump\u00a0told\u00a0WROK radio in Wisconsin. \u201cI\u2019m not going to cut it, and I\u2019m not going to raise ages, and I\u2019m not going to do all of the things that they want to do. But they want to really cut it, and they want to cut it very substantially, the Republicans, and I\u2019m not going to do that.\u201d\r\nAccording to The New York Times, Republicans plan to focus on cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid following tax reform.\r\n\u201cAs the tax cut legislation passed by the Senate early Saturday hurtles toward final approval, Republicans are preparing to use the swelling deficits made worse by the package as a rationale to pursue their long-held vision: undoing the entitlements of the New Deal and Great Society, leaving government leaner and the safety net skimpier for millions of Americans,\u201d\u00a0the Times\u00a0reported\u00a0in a front-page story last weekend.\r\nLast\u00a0week, a number of Republicans publicly said that they plan to cut \u201centitlement programs\u201d after passing their tax bill.\r\nAt a FOX News town hall this week,\u00a0Ryan said, \u201cThere\u2019s two things you got to do to get this debt under control. Cut spending \u2013 most importantly reform entitlement programs \u2013 and grow the economy.\u201d\r\n\u201cMany argue that you can\u2019t cut taxes because it will drive up the deficit,\u201d Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told business leaders. \u201cBut we have to do two things. We have to generate economic growth, which generates revenue, while reducing spending. That will mean instituting structural changes to Social Security and Medicare for the future.\u201d\r\nAnd\u00a0in an exchange\u00a0with Sanders on the Senate floor before the tax bill passed, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) refused to say that he would not support cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid \u2013\u00a0saying only that he would protect people currently on the programs.\r\nTo watch and download Sanders' challenge to Trump on the Senate floor,\u00a0click here.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/recent-business/sanders-to-trump-keep-your-promises-to-protect-social-security-and-medicare"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6195331700146198, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}