Another broken Trump promise

On Fox News this week, Donald Trump promised not to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Dear MoveOn member,

On Fox News this week, Donald Trump promised not to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. This was a promise he'd made numerous times on the campaign trail. "Social Security won't be touched," Trump told Sean Hannity.¹ "Medicare, Medicaid, none of that stuff is going to be touched."²

Then, just hours later, House Republicans voted to make deep cuts to Medicaid—in order to fund tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.^3,4 And Trump threw 100% of his support behind the plan.⁵

During the election, moderate Republicans in blue states joined Trump in pledging no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. And all of them turned on their constituents to vote YES to this budget resolution on Tuesday night.

Seventy-two million people rely on Medicaid for health care.⁶ It's our job to educate the public about how their Republican representatives vote and to ensure that persuadable Republicans face overwhelming pressure from their constituents—by flooding their offices with phone calls, confronting them in their districts, holding them accountable in the media, and reminding people who is against their best interests.

Please chip in $9 to our emergency campaign to keep the pressure on persuadable Republicans in left-leaning districts—and help ensure that Democrats have the support they need to keep to save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately.

With the tightest House margin in nearly a century (217-215), we have to flip only TWO Republicans to save Medicaid and stop the slippery slope that could result in cuts to other critically needed programs.

And Democrats in the Senate must be united against cuts. Cutting Social Security through legislation requires 60 votes in the Senate—and cannot be done in an ordinary budget bill.

We will need Senate Democrats to be stronger than ever. Because Elon Musk is spreading baseless lies about Social Security, outrageously claiming that 150-year-olds are collecting it.⁷

Trump has repeated these bogus claims to his supporters at Mar-a-Lago.⁸ And Trump's commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, told Fox News, "You know Social Security is wrong, you know Medicare and Medicaid is wrong, so [Musk's] going to cut 1 trillion."⁹

So it's clear: MAGA Republicans are coming for all three of the big programs: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. But by organizing together, MoveOn members have beaten back attacks and deep cuts before—and ensured that Republicans paid a steep price for their actions.

MoveOn will pull out all the stops to stop as many of these cuts as we possibly can—just as we did when George W. Bush tried to privatize Social Security, when Barack Obama proposed cutting Social Security as part of a "grand bargain," and when Trump tried to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in his first term. But to do it, we need your help.

Please chip in $9 to MoveOn's emergency campaign to save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately.

Thanks for all you do.

–Nakia, Mia, Saskia, Amanda D., and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Trump's Medicaid flip-flop should worry any American on Social Security," MSNBC, February 24, 2025
https://act.moveon.org/go/202901?t=4&akid=426611%2E53570607%2EEJKdAk

2. Ibid.

3. "House GOP inches closer to Medicaid cuts," Politico, February 26, 2025
https://act.moveon.org/go/202902?t=6&akid=426611%2E53570607%2EEJKdAk

4. "What Can House Republicans Cut Instead of Medicaid? Not Much." The New York Times, February 26, 2025
https://act.moveon.org/go/202903?t=8&akid=426611%2E53570607%2EEJKdAk

5. "Trump's Medicaid flip-flop should worry any American on Social Security," MSNBC, February 24, 2025
https://act.moveon.org/go/202901?t=10&akid=426611%2E53570607%2EEJKdAk

6. "House Budget Would Increase Costs and Hardship for Many While Providing Huge Tax Breaks for a Wealthy Few," Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 25, 2025
https://act.moveon.org/go/202891?t=12&akid=426611%2E53570607%2EEJKdAk

7. "No, 150-Year-Olds Aren't Collecting Social Security Benefits," Wired, February 17, 2025
https://act.moveon.org/go/202705?t=14&akid=426611%2E53570607%2EEJKdAk

8. "Trump official calls Social Security 'wrong' as administration lays groundwork for massive cuts," The Independent, February 20, 2025
https://act.moveon.org/go/202818?t=16&akid=426611%2E53570607%2EEJKdAk

9. "February 20, 2025," Letters from an American, February 21, 2025
https://act.moveon.org/go/202819?t=18&akid=426611%2E53570607%2EEJKdAk

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