Biden vows to protect Medicare and Social Security in Goffstown speech

President Joe Biden delivered a speech in Goffstown, NH on Monday afternoon touting his administration’s achievements creating cost savings for middle-class Americans and attacking Donald Trump for entertaining cuts to Social Security and Medicare earlier in the day.

“Republicans will cut Social Security and Medicare to get more tax cuts from the wealthy. Even this morning, Donald Trump said cuts to Social Security and Medicare are on the table… The bottom line is still I’m never going to allow that to happen,” Biden said. “If anyone tries to cut Social Security Medicare or raise retirement age again, I will stop him.”

The president was referring to an interview on CNBC in which Trump was asked whether he had changed his outlook on cutting entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in order to tackle the national debt.

“There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements,” Trump said.

RELATED: Donald Trump says “there’s a lot you can do” in terms of cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid

In his speech, Biden also touted savings Americans were experiencing from the Inflation Reduction e Act, including a $2,000 cap on prescription drug costs and a $35 monthly cap on insulin for seniors  on Medicare—a policy which he now wants to apply to all Americans.  He also vowed to give Medicare more  power to directly negotiate drug prices and touted the growing number of Americans getting healthcare through the Affordable Care Act.

“Twenty-one million Americans have signed up for health care on the ACA, including 65,000 folks right here in New Hampshire,” Biden said. “Those tax credits expire next year, and I’m calling on Congress to expand the Affordable Care Act tax credits and make them permanent.”

Biden accused Republican leaders of having “locked arms with Big Pharma” to keep prescription drug prices high.

On the economy, Biden called for raising taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals to reduce the federal deficit. He argued this would generate over $2 trillion in revenue to invest in areas like healthcare, education, and infrastructure. Biden also touted the 15 million new jobs created under his administration so far.

Senator Maggie Hassan opened the speech and praised the Biden administration for taking on Big Pharma and saving seniors money.  

“The cost of insulin for seniors at $35 a month, that is a game changer. That is a game changer that is already putting money back into the pockets of seniors all across the country, and our reforms to Medicare prescription drug coverage are bringing down health care costs for more than 73,000 Granite Staters, and save Granite Staters more than $35 million dollars next year alone,” Hassan said.

Mike Liberty, a New Hampshire entrepreneur and candidate for Executive Council in District 2 said the President’s commitment to lowering medical costs was deeply personal to him.

“As someone who went through and experienced brain cancer, I know how medical bills pile up and really take you by surprise. Luckily, you know, when I went through it, I had a support system around me, but not everyone has that. And so the fact that the President is bringing down prescription drug prices, for diabetes and cancer treatments. really spoke to me.”