On Ruthless Podcast, Sununu Makes Clear He'd Support McConnell’s Cut to Social Security & Medicare

On McConnell-Linked Podcast, Sununu Says He Would Go To D.C. to Cut Social Security and Medicare

The Union Leader’s Kevin Landrigan reported that last week, on the Mitch McConnell-linked Ruthless podcast, Chris Sununu backed cutting Social Security and Medicare, and made clear that he supports Mitch McConnell’s long-held goal of eviscerating the programs. During a discussion focused on why he would run for Senate, Sununu said that he would support McConnell’s years-long effort to cut Social Security and Medicare. McConnell-Sununu’s support for cutting these programs would be devastating to the 305,150 people in New Hampshire who rely on Medicare and the 317,389 Granite Staters who rely on Social Security. “Chris Sununu made it crystal clear that if he runs for Senate, he will do everything he can to help Mitch McConnell achieve his long-held goal of cutting Social Security and Medicare for Granite Staters," said NHDP Chair Ray Buckley. "This is just one of the many examples of how Sununu would eagerly push McConnell’s agenda at the expense of New Hampshire." McConnell has a long record of trying to eviscerate Medicare and Social Security — an effort Sununu has now made clear that he would support if he ran for U.S. Senate. McConnell led Republican efforts to pass a budget that would “essentially end Medicare by turning it into the voucher program,” as well as other budgets that would cut the program by hundreds of billions of dollars, fought to privatize Social Security, and said that Republicans’ failure to enact drastic changes to these programs has been the “biggest disappointment of [his] time in Congress.” Union Leader: State House Dome: “Gov ponders entitlements” Key Excerpts: Sununu said that if he does run for the U.S. Senate in 2022, one of his top goals would be to make Social Security and Medicare financially solvent for the long term.

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The conservative “Ruthless” podcast is co-hosted by two former aides to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — Josh Holmes, McConnell’s former chief of staff and campaign manager, and Michael Duncan, McConnell’s past digital director.

Sununu said fiscal conservatives on Capitol Hill need to tackle the topic even though they risk being the target of liberals who claim this would lead to cutting the safety net.

“The Democrats are going to run those ads anyway. No matter what happens, you might as well get a good result and actually fix the thing, too,” Sununu said.

Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said there’s no doubt entitlement reform would be a major issue if Sununu ran for the Senate.

“Chris Sununu just made it perfectly clear that if he runs for Senate he will work to enact Mitch McConnell’s long-held goal of cutting Social Security and Medicare for Granite Staters,” Buckley said.

“That’s just one of the many ways Sununu would serve McConnell at the expense of our state.”

Listen to Sununu’s interview here and read the transcript, including timestamps of the comments, below. SUNUNU: [00:18:57] Yes. Yeah. I mean, look, the question is, I mean, I'm a I'm a big believer. I mean, I do care about these big issues. Right? I talk to citizens all the time that are fixed income, Social Security, Medicare. The stuff is all going bankrupt. HOLMES: [00:19:09] Yes. SUNUNU: [00:19:10] It is going to fail, like, really, really soon. And so I look at them and I go, oh, my God. Like, I don't know if they understand how how messed up this situation is and they're relying on that. And so, you know, can I go down there and really fix that? And I have to be honest, I talked as many Republicans and Democrats that I talked to the like, "Yeah, it'll never get fixed. You can't do it. You can't do it." And I'm like, "you better do it. There's no option here guys.". HOLMES: [00:19:32] That's a hell of a take. SUNUNU: [00:19:33] 28 trillion dollars is a very real number. It's gotten so big that it's become unreal, but it's very real. And so I do look at those issues and I do think I could help. [...] And if things don't work, we've designed flexibility so we can move funding or move policy or move rules and guidance to pivot around a better solution. And so there's always a way to do it. I just don't know if Washington I guess I don't know if Washington can handle it, Josh. [...] HOLMES: [00:21:01] But I really think that we are now at a two or four year precipice where there could be some serious conservative reform that address the big issues like you just talked about, like Social Security. The answer to to whether you can do it or not is it's either there or not. Right. And these are the big things that we need, really smart people who are committed, who aren't interested in their own political, you know, sort of profile, but rather just helping people. And I think that's why I'm been such a huge fan of yours, is that I think that's the definition of your public service up to this point. SUNUNU: [00:22:14] So I was talking to a congressman recently. I just met him, really a super nice guy. And I think one of the individuals you're probably talking about. A young individual that had just [been] elected, tons of energy and we're talking about Medicare. And I said, and he said, look, man, I mean, the hard thing about something like rebuilding and making sure that we fund Medicare properly and making some of the changes we need is, you know, they're going to run those ads that you know, "You took my Medicare." And I said, "The Democrats are going to run those ads anyway. No matter what happens, you might as well get a good result and actually fix that thing, too." But I also said, look, I believe in what you're doing. If you get a better result, the results will take care. The politics will take care of itself. So you've got to get this stuff done.