Mitch McConnell on Social Security Republican Sr Senator (KY)

No plans to sunset Medicare or Social Security

"That's not a Republican plan. That was the Rick Scott plan. The Republican plan, if we were to become the majority, there were no plans to sunset Medicare or Social Security," McConnell said.

"I mean it's just a bad idea," McConnell added. "I think it will be a challenge for him to deal with this in his own reelection in Florida, a state with more elderly people than any state in America."

Biden distributed pamphlets of Scott's plan, saying that "the very idea the senator from Florida wants to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every 5 years I find to be somewhat outrageous, so outrageous that you might not even believe it."

FactCheck: Not just "Rick Scott Plan" to sunset entitlements

Sen. Scott introduced S.925 with 4 co-sponsors, and the "Federal Agency Sunset Commission Act" was simultaneously introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Michael Cloud as H.R.2199 with 11 co-sponsors. That means 17 legislators, all Republican, put their names on the sunset plan -- it's not just Rick Scott's plan!

Is McConnell right that sunsetting isn't in the GOP plan? Well, let's look at the Republican Party platform of 2016. It calls for retirement savings "options that are voluntary & portable". Social Security is neither voluntary nor portable, so the GOP is calling for major reforms. McConnell is only right that most Republicans don't use the term "sunset".

Rated 0% by the ARA, indicating an anti-senior voting record.

The mission of the Alliance for Retired Americans is to ensure social and economic justice and full civil rights for all citizens so that they may enjoy lives of dignity, personal and family fulfillment and security. The Alliance believes that all older and retired persons have a responsibility to strive to create a society that incorporates these goals and rights and that retirement provides them with opportunities to pursue new and expanded activities with their unions, civic organizations and their communities.

The following ratings are based on the votes the organization considered most important; the numbers reflect the percentage of time the representative voted the organization`s preferred position.

Rated 6% by ARA, indicating a pro-privatization stance.

Scoring system for 2014: Ranges from 0% (supports privatization and other market-based reforms) to 100% (supports keeping federal control over Trust Fund and Social Security system).

About ARA (from their website, www.RetiredAmericans.org):

The Alliance for Retired Americans is a nationwide organization, founded in May 2001, with now over 4.2 million members working together to make their voices heard in the laws, policies, politics, and institutions that shape our lives. The mission of the Alliance for Retired Americans is to ensure social and economic justice and full civil rights for all citizens so that they may enjoy lives of dignity, personal and family fulfillment and security.

• Alliance members visit the polls in record numbers. We use the power of our membership and our Congressional Voting Record to educate and mobilize seniors to elect leaders committed to improving the lives of retirees and older Americans.
• We are effectively warding off cuts to our most important social programs like Social Security and Medicare. Our Human Chain Against the Chained CPI events in the summer of 2013 took place in more than 50 cities and mobilized support for stopping this cut to earned Social Security benefits.
• We blocked the privatization of Social Security with our Social Security `Truth Truck` delivering 2.1 million petitions to Members of Congress and other tactics.
• The Alliance makes its voice heard on the issues that matter not just to current retirees, but to all Americans who hope to retire one day. We were a leading voice in recent debates considering changes to Medicare, like replacing guaranteed benefits with a voucher system, and remain so in 2014.