Rick Scott Issues Social Security Warning: 'Have To Get Something Done'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Published Mar 07, 2025 at 8:38 AM EST | Updated Mar 07, 2025 at 3:25 PM EST


Republican Florida Senator Rick Scott has issued a warning on the solvency of Social Security and other programs, saying that Congress is going to have "to do this" in a discussion on overall government spending cuts and adding that he is "optimistic" about getting things done.

Why It Matters

Social Security benefits are paid to more than 70 million Americans on a monthly basis, and help form the bedrock of income for retirees, survivors of deceased claimants and disabled people. As President Donald Trump moves to make heavy cuts in government spending, he and other Republicans have long said that they will not touch popular programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Rick Scott

What To Know

Scott said during an appearance with fellow Republican Senators Ron Johnson, from Wisconsin, and Roger Marshall, from Kansas, at the Rescuing the American Dream Summit in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, when talking about federal spending and how it might affect some programs, that he was "optimistic."

"I'm optimistic that we're going to get something done. I don't think it's easy. People are thinking the way Ron (Johnson) is saying that you can't cut, you can't cut, you can't cut. That's all great. Then you're not worried about any program you care about. "Because Medicare is going bankrupt. Social Security is going bankrupt. Inflation can't go away. Interest rates can't come down. So, my belief is we're going to have to do this."

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-cut-social-security-rick-scott-2041069

[Lovie777]

1. A whole lot of seniors in Florida.....

the hate is already creeping upon the Republicans across board. Inflation and high prices is caused by greedy rich people, the ones that don’t pay their share of taxes.

[DENVERPOPS]

23. Social Security could pay

a million people with just what Scott's Corporation FRAUDULENTLY stole from Medicare when he was CEO...........

Why isn't Scott in prison.......instead they made him a U.S. Senator??????

[chouchou]

36. Even worse...that Cockroach, when he was in court, took the 5th multiple times and when...

..he did answer questions, told how "I couldn't be everywhere"
Which brings up even WORSE >> all his underlings (for years) said "He's a super Micro-manager" ..always with his nose..etc..
That piece-of-shit knew every dollar that was being corrupted... It's the people who moved here don't know that shit-bag.
Living in Florida, there's many people would like to ( Insert words here that would get me banned)

[AZ8theist]

60. You mean, THIS cockroach:

[chouchou]

61. I'd probably take the dude on the right.

Maybe we could hold him down with a cross or some sunlight..

[mdbl]

42. Floriduh

That's all.

[mitch96]

44. The only thing we have to get done is get rid of rick roll scott...Uff I hate that parasite...nt

[J_William_Ryan]

2. 'Have To Get Something Done'

Unfortunately, for Republicans, ‘getting something done’ means privatizing both programs.

Medicare is already de facto privatized, and Americans have suffered as a consequence.

[Karasu]

3. "My belief is..." Well, news flash, Rick: beliefs aren't facts. No matter how badly you and the rest of these fascists

try to sell this lie that everything is going bankrupt and that only mindless austerity can save it.

[James48]

4. Raise the Social Security Cap

And bolster young immigration. Both will help make Social Security solvent longer.

[markie]

5. I recommend

that whole heartedly... there are relatively easy fixes... it just takes everyone paying their relative share

[LiberalArkie]

12. It is simple, the rich need to give up some of their ill-gotten gains

[liberalgunwilltravel]

7. Don't just raise it

Eliminate it entirely and have it paid on all income, not just wages and salaries. The net effect would be that most people's payroll taxes would decrease, because the uber wealthy would be paying.

[slightlv]

15. I agree about raising the Cap

But it does no good if the rich don't draw earned income. You'd need to delineate that FICA will be paid on ALL income. The rich do mostly passive earnings, they rarely actually work for a salary. In fact if you just cut the loopholes the rich use to avoid earned income you might not even need to raise the Cap. Upshot to that is they'd be paying more income tax in general on declared earned income.

[GiqueCee]

22. I'm not sure, but...

... isn't the SS cap around $160,000? That is obscene. Those of us who pay into the SS Trust fund on every penny we earn are supporting the system, while the filthy rich only pay on their annual expenditure for goldfish food.

For the terminally obtuse:

[Rebl2]

40. That

should have been done long ago, but it seems like even democrats don’t want to tackle that.

[Bengus81]

55. Not hard to do the math on how long the rich pay into the system. The cap is 176,100 in 2025.

A CEO making a $10 million per year salary pays into the system first 6.43 days of the new year.

Trash like Limbaugh who I think made $37M per year in his last few pre-dead years would have paid in for all of 1.48 days based on a cap that I'm guessing might have been 150K back then. Maybe less.

That's how ridiculous this bullshit cap is..............

[Irish_Dem]

6. He cannot wait to get his dirty hands on our SS and Medicare funds.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

8. You mean the person

Responsible for the greatest Medicare fraud in US history?

[Irish_Dem]

9. Exactly, he knows to the penny how much money he can steal from SS and Medicare again.

[GiqueCee]

25. And this is the slime bag that orchestrated the biggest Medicare fraud in US history...

... and not only walked away scot-free, but made money in the process!

I'm older than Scott, but I hope I live long enough to piss on his grave.

[Walleye]

10. Social Security is not "government spending"!

[GiqueCee]

27. FACT...

... but, being textbook sociopaths, Republicans view facts the same way the Wicked Witch of the West viewed water.

[Walleye]

34. Good one. Wish we could melt them.

[JohnnyRingo]

11. Is he talking about senate pay?

The country is running a deficit, inflation isn't going away, and we have to make cuts somewhere.

"I'm optimistic that we're going to get something done. I don't think it's easy. People are thinking the way Sean (Hannity) is saying that you can't cut, you can't cut, you can't cut. That's all great. Then you're not worried about any govt branch you care about. "Because the country is going bankrupt and the senate is going morally bankrupt. Inflation can't go away. Interest rates can't come down for the rest of us. So, my belief is Rick Scott is going to have to tighten up his belt and do this."

A 50% cut in senate compensation should be a big help for the rest of us.

[Vinca]

13. The answer is simple: raise the cap.

A person of average income shouldn't be paying in the same amount as Elon Musk.

[yardwork]

33. And given Musk's ketamine addiction, I doubt we'll be paying his SS for long.

Not to mention it's a drop in the bucket to him.

It's so disgusting. These billionaires paying a tiny fraction of their obscene wealth into SS, then laughing at how little the payout means to them, while most Americans pay diligently and depend on their SS.

And they want to take even that away!

Mobsters.

[MsSalvia]

14. I lived in Nashville when he ran

Columbia/HCA. A disgusting man. He was behind a huge financial scandal that his company was supposed to pay for. He was friend to Dick Cheney and the Frists and he owed millions in fines. I do not think he paid for it. Friends in high places.

[yardwork]

32. My mother worked for a rural hospital HCA bought in the 80s

She had the opportunity to meet Scott and she told him what she thought. He was not pleased.

My mom didn't give a damn. I miss her. She predicted all this.

[JHB]

16. Mr. "oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in the nation's history" thinks we need to "do something"?

It's a heist. They want to "fix" it by stealing it.

[travelingthrulife]

17. Raise the cap Rick so you pay more into the program

Quit letting rich people loot our system. One of the biggest Medicare fraudsters we have had and he is telling us what me must do.

All Republicans are traitors.

[moniss]

18. Of course their supposed "fixes" will not involve raising

the cap on earnings subject to FICA. For these fools and their lapdog media nobody is ever allowed to say "What about bringing in more revenue?"

[bronxiteforever]

19. "Something must be done" rallying cry of billionaires

Rick Scott promises to sacrifice as many regular Americans as possible while stocking the feeding trough and feathering the beds of his feudal masters.

[area51]

62. Rick Scott

[William769]

20. Scott has been fucking The American people since the 90's.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

24. Sick Snott loves his Medicare fraud...

... educate yourself for a few minutes:

" During his tenure as chief executive, the company defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs. The U.S. Department of Justice won 14 felony convictions against the company, which was fined $1.7 billion in what was at the time the largest healthcare fraud settlement in U.S. history."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Scott#:~:text=During%20his%20tenure%20as%20chief,fraud%20settlement%20in%20U.S.%20history.

[William769]

26. That's what I was referring to. I live in Florida.

[yardwork]

31. Your post comes across as rude.

Did you intend it that way? What did you mean by "educate yourself for a few minutes?"

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

35. Educate yourself on what a scum Sick Snott is...

... if you didn't already know.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

21. Thune has been saying the same thing for a decade...

... never once mentioning that raising the threshold for withholding a bit would solve the problems.

[yardwork]

30. Exactly.

[58Sunliner]

28. The fucking fraud needs to go away, permanently.

[yardwork]

29. Liars. These people are monsters.

All they do is lie and lie.

[Hugin]

37. That's a laugh, the guy who blew through the 2020 "Death Star" with nothing to show for it...

Talking about things going bankrupt.

I am also surprised to hear that Ron Johnson thinks.

[Jacson6]

38. Raise the FICA income tax cap and trim some money from the people earning $4,000 per month in SSA.

Some people just aren't very smart or it's the we can't raise taxes on anybody lunatic fringe.

[usaf-vet]

39. A sixth grader could figure this problem out. Show them a glass bowl on the left half filled with......

.......money and on the right, another glass bowl overflowing with money.

With the following question,
HOW can you find enough money to fill the bowl on the left?

Then, the next day, show them the half-empty bowl on the left and the overflowing bowl on the right.
With this explanation, the bowl on the left will be half-empty every day, and the right bowl will always overflow.

How can you keep the bowl filled on the left every day?

[MontanaMama]

41. We need to raise the cap on the annual SS contribution.

People earning more than $250,000 annually can afford it.

[Old Crank]

43. He's the a..Bag that stole

hundreds of millions from the system.

[dchill]

45. His fangs are dripping.

[Mc Mike]

46. Remember all the repugs screaming about Biden 'lying' during the State of the Union,

when he said they're coming after Social Security.

[Mysterian]

47. What we need to figure out is how Fox "News" etc. convince gullible people to vote for scum like known fraudsters like

Scott and Trump.

[Bigerhalf]

48. SS excess payments were used for general fund !

In earlier times more money came into Social Security each year than was needed to pay recipients that year.
The government borrowed that excess money for the general fund and promised to pay it back.
Remember Al Gores "Lock Box" for those funds when he ran for President.
Now nobody remembers, or at least mentions it.
I do because I'm close to 80 and am pissed!
Speak up about it Democrats!

[lonely bird]

49. Well

Jail for Rick Scott would be a great start.

Steal a car, get jail. Steal multiple millions, company pays a fine and the CEO gets no punishment.

Beyond that, uncap income, all income and make it taxable for FICA.

[AllaN01Bear]

50. going bankrupt because prior rs borrowed and never paied back

[kimbutgar]

51. This fantasy of his will hurt so many Florida people of all ages!

But hey they got what they voted for when they elected a guy to represent them that ripped off Medicare and made himself a millionaire.

[Turbineguy]

52. And "something" is

tax breaks for the rich.

[SWBTATTReg]

53. Senator Skeletor is actually concerned about SSecurity? Wow.

[BumRushDaShow]

54. He wants it cut...

which what I think the gist was.

[wryter2000]

56. They've been telling us it's insolvent

For 50 or more years. Nothing new here.

[red dog 1]

57. Rick Scott is full of snot.

[Quanto Magnus]

58. Every time Rick Scott opens his yap

someone needs to point out his company getting busted for defrauding Medicare (SocSec??)

[Mr. Evil]

59. Anger and fear,

and smear and fear. The only two things republicans have to offer to American citizens. And this, coming from one of the United States most notorious Medicare fraudulent criminals, should be taken with a Quintillion tons of salt.

[AmericaUnderSiege]

63. The "something" that gets done can be Rick Scott's career.

I see no reason America should be plagued with his name anymore, or any other psycho Florida Republican swamp-born, or any other nightmare they want to inflict an otherwise honorable nation.