President Biden, Democrats and even fellow Republicans slammed Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.). Now he is making changes

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has changed his 12-point Rescue America plan to say that his plan to get rid of all federal laws in five years does not apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the U.S. Navy.

After getting a lot of criticism from President Biden, Democrats, and even fellow Republicans, Scott changed Point Six of his plan, which includes the sunset proposal, to make “specific exceptions” for Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans’ benefits, and other essential services.

“Note to President Biden, Sen. Schumer, and Sen. McConnell: As you know, this was never meant to apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the U.S. Navy,” Scott writes in bold, addressing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

In an opinion piece in The Washington Examiner on Friday, Scott said that Democratic leaders and McConnell used his plan to play “gotcha politics.”

“I have never, ever been in favor of cutting Social Security or Medicare. To say otherwise is a lie from the Democrats told by a president who is very confused. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also knows this very well. It’s the kind of cheap politics that Washington is known for,” Scott wrote.

“Everyone outside of Washington knew exactly what I was trying to do with my plan, but that hasn’t stopped politicians in Washington from doing what they do best, which is to lie to you every chance they get. So, since it’s clear that the people up here are too confused and dishonest to understand, I’ll write it down so they can read it or have someone else read it to them,” he said.

During his State of the Union address, Biden talked about Scott’s plan. He said, “Some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to end every five years,” which made GOP lawmakers in the House chamber boo and jeer.

Scott stuck to his plan to end all federal programs, saying in a statement the day after Biden’s speech, “This is clearly and obviously an idea to deal with all the crazy new laws that Congress has been passing lately.”

Then, on Tuesday, McConnell denied that Senate Republicans would agree to cuts to Medicare and Social Security as part of talks to raise the debt limit or soon after.

“It comes up again and again. He told reporters, “The president talked about it in his State of the Union address.” “So let me say it one more time. There is no plan for Medicare or Social Security to be looked at again by Senate Republicans. Period.”

McConnell and his allies said that Scott’s plan, which he announced last year as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, made it hard for the party to get its message across in the midterm election.

During a leadership race in which Scott ran against McConnell for the top job, he and McConnell fought over who was to blame for the GOP’s poor election results.

Scott argued his party leadership failed to lay out a clear agenda and that hurt GOP candidates.

In an opinion piece he wrote on Friday, Scott said that the GOP establishment in Washington was to blame for the federal government getting into such a big amount of debt.

“Here’s another inconvenient truth: Joe Biden and the Democrats are just as responsible as the Republicans in Washington for the huge rise in our national debt. Too many Republicans have given in to the Democrats too often, and now a $32 trillion bill is coming due,” he wrote.