Cuts to the Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs could be in store if President Donald Trump is re-elected, he said in an interview with CNBC from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Asked about issues he might take on in a second term, if he has one, Trump said that he would look at the benefits programs “at some point.” The president pointed to economic growth and low unemployment as reasons to consider such cuts. “We have the hottest economy in the world,” he said.
Trump’s most recent budget proposal included $1.9 trillion in cost savings from safety-net programs such as Medicaid and Medicare and for $26 billion less in spending on Social Security programs, according to the New York Times.
Campaigning in the last presidential election, Trump said that he would not make cuts to the benefits programs.
Responding to a question after the CNBC interview White House spokesman Judd Deere reportedly said that the president had kept “his commitment to the most vulnerable Americans, especially those who depend on Medicare and Social Security.”
