Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., introduced his bill Friday to strengthen Social Security and Medicare after President Joe Biden accused him of trying to cut the entitlement programs during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.
"I have been fighting since Day One to protect and preserve programs like Social Security and Medicare for Florida's seniors, and today I am proud to announce new legislation, my Protect Our Seniors Act, to safeguard the benefits of these critical entitlements," Scott said in a press release Friday.
"While Democrats howl and lie about made-up threats to Social Security and Medicare, the reality is they haven't done one thing to protect them. In fact, Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress have done more to hurt Social Security and Medicare than anyone I can think of.
"While Joe Biden had legislation to actually cut entitlements, my record shows that I've been 100% committed to protecting them from the start. I welcome Biden and anyone else who truly cares about protecting seniors to support this good bill."
During his speech Tuesday night, Biden claimed that "some" GOP members of Congress were trying to make cuts in the programs.
"Some of my Republican friends want to take the economy hostage unless I agree to their economic plans. All of you at home should know what their plans are," Biden said.
"Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years. That means if Congress doesn't vote to keep them, those programs will go away."
Republicans attending the speech on the House floor of the U.S. Capitol heckled Biden, calling him a liar for the accusation.
Scott said Friday that his bill would rescind funding for 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service agents approved earlier this year in the Inflation Reduction Act, and redirect to funds to strengthen the programs for seniors.
"My bill will do three important things: first, the Protect Our Seniors Act will rescind funding for Joe Biden's new 87,000 IRS agent army and redirect those funds to Medicare and Social Security to shore up these programs and address threats of insolvency," Scott said in the release.
"Second, my bill establishes a 'Keep Medicare Savings in Medicare' requirement. That means that if any bill makes changes to Medicare that result in a 'savings' every dollar of those savings must remain in Medicare and are prohibited from being used to fund woke projects as Democrats have recently done in their so-called Inflation Reduction Act."
The final component of the bill would require a two-thirds vote in Congress on any measure that would cut funding to those programs, according to Scott.