On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump promised he wouldn’t touch Medicare or Social Security. Now, his incoming White House chief of staff says Trump intends to keep that promise.
“I don’t think President-elect Trump wants to meddle with Medicare or Social Security,” Priebus told CBS’s “Face The Nation” on Sunday. “He made a promise in the campaign that that was something that he didn’t want to do.”
Preibus’s comments reveal there will be a difference of priorities between Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), who has spent years writing plans to privatize Medicare and has said multiple times since Trump won that he’d like to overhaul the program. Ryan’s not alone. Trump’s nominee to be Health and Human Services secretary, Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), has also authored plans to privatize Medicare.
Priebus told CBS that instead of making changes to Medicare or privatizing it, Trump’s hope is to grow the economy enough to make it stronger.
“What he wants to do is grow the economy, help shore up Medicare and Social Security for future generations,” Priebus said.
