Cuts to Social Security, Medicare & veterans’ benefits – WisPolitics

MADISON, Wis. — Yesterday, Eric Hovde announced the Hovde Plan, a set of out of touch policies that would help the ultra-rich like himself and gut the hard-earned programs Wisconsinites depend on. 

Hovde demanded cuts to Medicare and Social Security, raising the retirement age, and defunding veterans’ benefits like the PACT Act, which expanded benefits and health care coverage to the tens of thousands of Wisconsin veterans exposed to toxic burn pits overseas. 

Meanwhile, he advocated for $4 trillion in tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy to make multimillionaires like himself even richer. 

Read more below: 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hovde calls for cutting budget to 2019 levels, raising Social Security age for those under 40

• Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde on Tuesday called for sweeping cuts to the federal budget and suggested raising the eligibility age for Social Security for people under 40 years old.
• Hovde cited government spending as rising 40% since before the pandemic and said he would like to “pull those levels right back again” to 2019 levels, before the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the economy. 
• Wisconsin Democrats on Tuesday said Hovde’s proposal to scale back government spending to 2019 levels would “mean huge cuts to Medicare, Social Security, veterans’ benefits, and Medicaid, which helps pay for nursing home care for Wisconsin seniors.” 
• “The Hovde Plan is clear: Hovde wants to cut benefits for seniors, roll back benefits for our veterans, and let insurance companies jack up drug prices on working Wisconsinites,” Democrats wrote in a statement after the luncheon. 

Heartland Signal: Eric Hovde pitches cutting all federal programs, which would slash veterans’ benefits and benefits programs

• During an appearance at the Rotary Club of Milwaukee on Tuesday, Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde repeated his proposal to slash all federal spending to pre-COVID-19 levels, which would put benefits programs at risk.
• When pressed by TMJ4 News’ Charles Benson, Hovde said to simply go back to where the budget was in 2019.
• “All you have to do is go to the budget that was in 2019 and pull those levels right back again, pre-COVID levels,” Hovde said.
• Hovde first floated the idea of significantly decreasing federal funding in an op-ed he wrote for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which was published on Sept. 10.
• “The first thing that needs to happen is federal spending needs to be brought back to 2019 levels, and excessive deficit spending needs to be halted,” Hovde wrote. “To prevent an economic contraction as spending declines, pro-growth policies need to be implemented, like deregulation.”
• During an interview with Milwaukee’s NPR station published on Sept. 23, Hovde again stated multiple times that he wants to cut all federal spending to pre-COVID-19 levels.
• When asked specifically which programs he was referring to, Hovde again said “all programs.”
• Hovde has previously backed raising the retirement age, slashing veterans benefits and cutting programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Notably, the government estimates that over 60% of nursing home residents are covered by Medicaid. In April, Hovde questioned whether nursing home residents should have the right to vote in elections.
• An executive of a California-based bank, he has also supported extending former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, which have been widely criticized by multiple sources for being most beneficial to the wealthiest Americans. Extending these tax cuts projects to again benefit the top 5% of America, including vast benefits to banks and wealthy investors like Hovde. According to a report from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Hovde would be one of the wealthiest sitting senators if elected, as he has reported assets worth between $195.4 and $564.5 million.

Wisconsin Independent: Eric Hovde says he wants to cut all federal programs back to 2019 funding levels

• Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde recently said during a radio interview that he wants to cut all federal programs across the board, bringing funding for those programs back to 2019 levels.
• Hovde, a millionaire businessman who is running against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in the Nov. 5 election, has long said he wants to make cuts to federal programs to address the national debt and what he calls reckless government spending. He has specifically said he wants to make cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
• “All programs should be pulled back to 2019 levels,” Hovde said.
• While Hovde has called for cuts to specific programs such as Social Security and Medicare in the past, cutting all federal programs would also affect assistance for housing, child care, educational, and food assistance programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Head Start, which provides early childhood education to low-income families.
• “It’s very simple: All you do is you pull all government programs back to ’19 levels,” Hovde said.
• Hovde previously ran for U.S. Senate in 2012, but lost the Republican primary. During that campaign, he also supported making cuts to federal programs. Hovde has also said he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and has criticized nursing home residents’ ability to vote.