On Thursday, President Joe Biden stood beneath the 132-year-old rotunda of the University of Tampa’s Plant Hall to defend two programs that have collectively helped families for more than 140 years.
“A lot of Republicans dream of cutting social security and medicare,” he told a room of local Democratic party power players. “If that’s your dream, I’m your nightmare.”
The quip drew big applause, much like a lot of his State Of the Union Address did two nights ago. During that address in Washington D.C., Biden more or less trolled Republicans into saying they would not even entertain cuts to Medicare and Social Security, founded in 1965 and 1935, respectively.
Biden reiterated his commitment to bipartisanship during his 24-minute speech in Tampa, adding that, “Fighting for the sake of fighting gets us nowhere.”
He pointed to instances in the last congress where both sides of the aisle came together to improve the lives of Americans—but did not shy away from putting policymakers like Sen. Rick Scott on blast for his “12 Point Plan To Rescue America.”
On chairs at the university was a pamphlet that quoted Scott’s statement that, “All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.”
Biden alluded to members of the GOP who called him a liar on Tuesday night, and came back to Sen. Scott, adding, “Maybe he’s changed his mind. Maybe he’s seen the lord.”
But anyone expecting the full weight of a campaign stop was probably left wanting more. While Biden touted his desire to lower the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs, and even criticized Florida for not expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, he did not come close to mentioning Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s been obsessed with Biden for at least the last year.
Instead, he took it back to that moment in Washington on Tuesday night when it felt like Democrats and Republicans stood together, and clapped, seemingly agreeing that any cuts to Medicare were off the table.
“I sure hope so,” Biden said.
