First lady Jill Biden told seniors in Green Bay on Thursday that former President Donald Trump would cut Social Security and Medicare if he’s reelected.
The event was part of the kickoff for an initiative by President Joe Biden’s campaign to connect with seniors and contrast his policies with Trump’s.
Speaking to a group at the Brown County Library, the first lady said President Biden wants to preserve Social Security, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act, and framed Trump as a threat to those programs.
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“Donald Trump supported ending Medicare as we know it,” Jill Biden said. “He came one vote away from repealing the Affordable Care Act, which would have raised drug prices by hundreds of dollars a year.”
She also said the Biden administration’s work has led to lower prescription drug prices for seniors, and helped more people get health insurance.
“For the first time in history, he made sure Medicare can negotiate drug prices directly, something that presidents have been trying to do for decades,” the first lady said. “He strengthened the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, bringing the uninsured rate lower than any other president has.”
Trump talked about “cutting” entitlements in a March interview, saying, “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.”
The Trump campaign has said those comments were in reference to “cutting waste,” and the former president has since said he won’t do anything to jeopardize the programs.
During the visit in Green Bay, Jill Biden also addressed her husband’s age, which has been a sticking point for both Republican and Democratic voters.
“This election is most certainly not about age,” she said. “Joe and that other guy are essentially the same age — let’s not be fooled. What this election is about, it’s about the character of the person leading our country.”
In May, Trump became the first former president to be a convicted felon when a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to an adult film star.
The current president’s son, Hunter Biden, was convicted this week of three felony charges related to lying about his drug addiction while purchasing a revolver in 2018.
Matt Fisher, a spokesperson for the Republican Party of Wisconsin, criticized the visit in a statement, saying the Biden Administration’s policies have raised prices for groceries and health care.
“Seniors are done with the failed policies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Fisher said. “Wisconsinites know a better day will begin when they restore Republican leadership to the White House this November.”
Jill Biden last visited Green Bay in February to promote the Biden Administration’s education policies. Her visit Thursday comes a little more than a week after Donald Trump Jr. attended a rally for a Green Bay-area congressional candidate who has been endorsed by his father.
Trump and President Biden both made stops in Wisconsin last month. Trump attended a rally in Waukesha, while Biden helped announce a more than $3 billion development by Microsoft in Mount Pleasant. Trump is set to visit Racine next week.
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