Liberals push fake narrative GOP wants work requirements for Social Security, Medicare: McCarthy

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s office is disputing reports on social media and websites that Republicans are demanding President Biden agree to work requirements on a litany of social services programs in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.  

A headline on the website Raw Story declared, "McCarthy demands work requirements on ‘all the programs’ including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP."

The story was also retweeted by a former Obama campaign official Jon Cooper. 

"Kevin McCarthy is demanding that WORK REQUIREMENTS be added to receive not only Medicaid but also Medicare and Social Security. He doesn’t think Americans have earned their benefits – despite paying into all three programs over the course of their entire working lives," Cooper wrote in another post Wednesday.

However, House Republicans' push for work requirements as part of an agreement to raise the nation's debt limit would apply only to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

The plan proposed by McCarthy and other GOP leaders to enforce work-related requirements in these federal benefit programs would not apply to Social Security and Medicare, contrary to information spreading on social media, the speaker's office confirmed. 

Work requirements in the SNAP program, commonly referred to as food stamps, apply to adults between ages 18 to 49 without dependents. These recipients must work 80 hours a month or enroll in a work-training program, according to the SNAP guidelines on the program's website. Under the GOP proposal, the age would increase to 55.

Liberal groups such as Occupy Democrats are also posting false claims on Twitter about work requirements in the House GOP plan applying to Social Security and Medicare. The non-profit organization Public Citizen posted the same claim on Thursday.

"Kevin McCarthy is demanding work requirements for Medicaid and Medicare and Social Security," they wrote.

The McCarthy spokesperson told Just the News that the claims are "not accurate."

A recent Axios-Ipsos poll recently found the majority of Americans support work requirements for federal aid programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz argued that most Americans support work requirements as opposed to issuing benefits without any strings attached. 

"An overwhelming majority of Americans support a work requirement for welfare," Cruz said.

He also suggested that Biden doesn't support such a requirement but once did.

“You know someone [whom] President Joe Biden ought to listen to? That would be Senator Joe Biden who has previously voted for work requirements for welfare. But now he's handed the Democrat Party over to the crazy socialist wing of the party that doesn't want anyone to work,” he said.

Democrats point to analysis from liberal organizations such as The Center for American Progress, which have concluded that work requirements would not work under programs like Medicaid.