FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA — President Joe Biden delivered another series of questionable and confusing comments during a public appearance in South Florida on Tuesday afternoon. The President went after Senator Rick Scott for authoring the “11 Point Plan to Rescue America.”
In February, Scott announced the plan, calling for “Congress to issue a report every year telling the public what they plan to do when Social Security and Medicare go bankrupt.” Social Security funds are expected to be exhausted sometime around 2035, and Medicare funds are expected to run out sometime around 2028, The Hill reports.
Biden stumbled over his words while attempting to mock the former Florida governor, saying: “As they say in Southern, ‘doesn't know where y'all been. Got damn boy.’”
READING FROM BROCHURE
At one point, Biden read directly from a brochure summarizing Scott’s plan.
“Folks here in Florida, you need to know this, I mean this sincerely, you need to know this. need to know why,” Biden said. “Because of your own senator, senator Rick Scott, I have a brochure here he has. He’s in charge of electing Republicans in the Senate, he’s the head of the campaign. And he laid out a clear plan. He said every five years, Social Security, Medicare would have to be reauthorized. This is from the report, I made it larger, listed all they want to do.”
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?
Biden went after Republicans in Congress for their role in “the ticking time bomb” of a possible government shutdown. He shared a story from his days as Vice President in 2013 when the federal government shut down for over two weeks due to a lack of funding.
“Remember the last time Republicans tried this?” Biden asked the audience. “I was literally, as Vice President, negotiating with the Republican leader until almost Christmas Eve day. I mean, New Years Eve day.”
INFLATION
Towards the end of his remarks, Biden addressed inflation. The President argued that giving “free reign to drug companies” was raising the cost of living for seniors and that Republicans were “cheering them on.”
“Go ahead and reduce social security and Medicare. Watch what happens to the cost of living for hard working Floridians. That’s what they call inflation. At the end of the month, what you have left, if you have no money, that’s inflation,” Biden said.
At one point, the President repeated an erroneous statement that he made last month in Colorado that his son Beau died in Iraq.
“Inflation is a worldwide problem right now because of a war in Iraq... excuse me, the war in Ukraine. I'm thinking about Iraq because that's where my son died,” he said.
DESANTIS REACTS
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made light of the visit, suggesting the President’s campaigning efforts might actually backfire for Democrats.
“I think we all should thank him for coming to Florida,” DeSantis said. “He’s reminding every voter in Florida just how poor his policies have been. He’s reminding every voter that these Democrats are with Joe Biden 100 percent.”
