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Fresh off a State of the Union speech to Congress that challenged opposition Republicans to help unite the country, President Joe Biden embarked on a tour of U.S. states crucial to his expected 2024 re-election bid. In Wisconsin, the Democratic president told workers at a union training facility "it looks like we negotiated a deal last night" on Social Security. (Holland and Hunnicutt, 2/8)

A jubilant President Joe Biden kicked off his post-State of the Union blitz on Wednesday, buoyed after a night of touting his wins from the past two years and challenging Republicans. “Folks, I hate to disappoint them, but the Biden economic plan is working,” the president told a crowd gathered inside a union training center. “It’s working.” (Lemire and Ward, 2/8)

Biden will travel to Tampa, Florida, on Thursday morning and deliver remarks at the University of Tampa in the afternoon. He will discuss his plan to fortify Social Security and Medicare as well as lower healthcare costs. The president will also "contrast his commitment to protecting and strengthening Medicare and Social Security and lowering prescription drug prices, with Congressional Republicans’ plans to cut these programs," the White House said. (Gomez and Winsor, 2/9)

President Biden ripped Republicans during his State of the Union address for efforts to use the nation’s debt ceiling as leverage to extract spending cuts from Democrats. “Some of my Republican friends want to take the economy hostage, I get it, unless I agree to their economic plans,” Biden said Tuesday night as the White House gears up for a budget battle with House Republicans. (Folley, 2/8)

Biden and Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly accused Republicans of attempting to target Medicare and Social Security in potential spending cuts that they hope to tie to a debt ceiling increase. However, Republicans have denied that the entitlement programs are at risk. But some prominent Republicans have previously suggested cuts to the programs. Here’s what they actually said about cuts and changes to Social Security and Medicare. (Shapero, 2/8)

In his State of the Union address, Biden said some — but not all — Republicans want to target programs such as Social Security and Medicare, drawing jeers and catcalls from certain members of the GOP caucus. On Wednesday, the president used his speech at a labor training center in Wisconsin to identify the Republicans he was talking about Tuesday night, reading direct comments the lawmakers have made when proposing changes. (Alfaro and Bella, 2/8)

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Wednesday defended his proposal to sunset all federal legislation after five years and slammed President Biden as “confused” in response to Biden’s claim at the State of the Union address that some Republicans want to sunset Social Security and Medicare. “In my plan, I suggested the following: All federal legislation sunsets in five years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” Scott said in a statement following Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress.  (Bolton, 2/8)

The ad-libbed exchange on Tuesday night encapsulated a newfound reality in Washington: Leaders of both parties have become unwilling to discuss potential changes to Social Security and Medicare — even as time dwindles before they reach financial insolvency and benefit reductions for tens of millions of American seniors will automatically go into effect. What used to be a routine point of at least nominal agreement on “hard choices” about the budget is, for now at least, off-limits as Washington grapples with GOP demands to cut federal spending in exchange for raising the nation’s debt limit. (Stein, 2/8)

KHN and PolitiFact: Health Policies Were A Prominent Theme In Biden’s State Of The Union Speech 

President Joe Biden on Tuesday delivered his State of the Union address to a politically divided Congress for the first time, calling for permanent fixes on policy priorities like unaffordable health costs. In one marked difference from his earlier speeches, attendance in the House chamber was at capacity with no covid-19 limitations in effect. And the lawmakers in the audience, both supporters and opponents, seemed to be in a raucous mood. Our partners at PolitiFact fact-checked a variety of Biden’s statements — ranging from Medicare, Social Security, and the health of the economy to infrastructure and a possible assault weapons ban — during the 73-minute speech. (2/8)

“Here’s the most important part of this new prescription drug pricing: You have to be a Medicare recipient for you to benefit. You have to be 65 years or older or you have to be an American who’s disabled and qualifies for Medicare,” Becerra said. “All those other Americans still are strapped with the unfair negotiation, the unfair pricing that occurs.” (Wolf, 2/8)

People with Medicare will pay more for some Covid-19 tests and treatments after the public health emergency ends, according to the agency that oversees the program. The Biden administration will end the federal Covid-19 public health emergency declaration on May 11, bringing an end to some of the free services that lawmakers had guaranteed patients in various Covid-19 relief laws. (Cohrs, 2/9)