Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, speaks during a campaign rally on Monday, March 13, 2023, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)ASSOCIATED PRESS
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is proposing changes to entitlement programs for younger generations, opening the door to potential cuts to Social Security and Medicare if elected.
At a campaign rally Monday night in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Haley promised not to touch the benefits of older people who retired with certain guarantees of a financial future.
“We’re not taking it from seniors,” Haley said. “We’re not taking it to anyone who’s been promised anything. My parents are in their 80s. I don’t want anybody touching theirs.”
But Haley, making her first campaign stop in South Carolina since launching her campaign last month, said her children, both of whom are in their 20s, are part of the generation for whom the benefits should be altered.
“Those are the ones we tell the rules have changed — anyone new coming in this system,” said Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. “That’s how you do entitlement reform. You let them know, it’s not going to be there for you anyway, because Social Security goes bankrupt in 10 years, Medicare goes bankrupt in five. We have to do something.”
Most leading Republicans have recently sought to signal their unwillingness to touch entitlement programs, though the GOP has a long history of threatening to slash the benefits. President Joe Biden, who has promised to “defend and strengthen” the programs, was met with boos from congressional Republicans when he said during his State of the Union address that “some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset.”
Supporters wait for South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, to speak during a campaign rally on Monday, March 13, 2023, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Democrats have pointed to a plan by Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, introduced last year, that called for all federal spending legislation to sunset in five years, subject to votes in Congress that could preserve programs. After Biden’s speech, Scott amended the plan to exempt Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans benefits, and other essential services.
The programs are coming up against insolvency deadlines. Forecasters say Social Security won’t be able to pay …read more
Source:: AOL.com