Rick Perry Quotes

No one was elected to Congress because he or she promised to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.

There are two important things to remember about 'entitlements': They are hugely popular programs for a very good reason, and actual sensible 'reform' would mean improving them, not sacrificing them at the altar of 'fiscal responsibility.'

I want to protect and preserve social security and Medicare.

Social Security and Medicare are among the best things about America.

The mortal enemies of Social Security and Medicare are those who, in contempt of the plain arithmetic, continue to mislead Americans that we should change nothing.

We all know that Social Security is one of this country's greatest success stories in the 20th century.

Medicaid is essentially bankrupt, Medicare is essentially bankrupt, why the heck would we give the federal government another entitlement program to manage?

I firmly believe that the most important feature of spending the people's money is complete transparency.

Social Security is an extremely complicated program.

Social Security is a promise that we cannot and must not break.

When you talk about entitlement programs, it's not just about - it's not about cutting those programs. It is about saving those programs. Those programs are on a path of fiscal unsustainability.

Social Security is a family insurance program, not an investment scheme.

Social Security and Medicare represent promises made and we must keep these commitments.

Social Security is the widest accepted contract in our society.

Social Security is unequivocally the one contract the country is overwhelmingly in favor of.

Social Security works better than any other program in the world. Why dismantle it now?

The Pentagon says that they are too big to be audited. That’s an insult. They spend $700 billion a year. They need to be audited.

The vast majority of Americans—about 96 percent—benefit from some kind of government social program.

From now on, the government has to make its accounts public on a quarterly basis.

The great network of social insurance programs established by President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, President Harry Truman’s Fair Deal, President John F. Kennedy’s Great Society, and President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and defended by President Bill Clinton, sharply limits the amount of poverty a downturn [in the economy] can cause.

I know as well as anyone that the American people want to know that their hard-earned dollars are being spent wisely by government officials.

We're the party that has fought for Medicare. We're the party that has fought for Social Security. The Republicans have tried to privatize Social Security and voucherize Medicare.

The American people I talk to don't spend every moment thinking, 'How can I tax my neighbor more than they're being taxed?' They say, 'How can I get a good job? How can my kids get good jobs? How can seniors have a confidence in their future when they know that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are bankrupt?'

We must unequivocally reject any cuts to Social Security or Medicare benefits.

Our country is the richest in the history of the world. We should be working to expand and improve successful programs like Medicare, and offer more to our citizens.