(Photo: AP)
President Donald Trump stated during a Wednesday interview withCNBC that entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security could be on the chopping blockthis year as they are the "easiest of all things" to cut.
|Related: Social Security: The greatequalizer?
|CNBC anchor Joe Kernen's last question to Trump during an interview at the World Economic Forumin Davos, Switzerland, was: "Entitlements ever be on yourplate?"
|Trump responded: "Uh, at some point they will be. We havetremendous growth; we're going to have tremendous growth. This nextyear … it'll be toward the end of the year, the growth is going tobe incredible and at the right time we will take a look at that.That's [entitlements] actually the easiest of all things [to cut],if you look, 'cause it's such a big percentage."
|Kernan replied: "It's one of the things you wouldn't do in thepast, though, in terms of Medicare…"
|Trump interrupted: "We also have assets that we never had. Wenever had growth like this. We never had a consumer that was takingin by different means over $10,000 a family."
|Cuts to Social Security are already being planned. TheTrump administration plans to issue a proposed rule in June to narrow the eligibilitycriteria used in assessing vocational factors when approvingSocial Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disabilitybenefits for adults.
|The plan is a "significant change that would affect about halfof applicants for disability benefits," Kathleen Romig, a seniorpolicy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities inWashington, told ThinkAdvisor in a previous interview.
|The proposed rule, which the Trumpadministration included in its 2019 fall unified regulatory agendafiled at the Office of Management and Budget, "is super focused ona subset of applicants age 50 and above and [those that] havelimited skills and education," Romig said.
|House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass.,and Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John Larson, D-Conn.,issued a joint statement on Jan. 13 urging the Trump administration"to reject this cruel proposed rule and reassess" the SocialSecurity Administration's priorities.
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Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2023. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
