Richard McCormick

Republican Richard McCormick has said the incoming government will have to "have the stomach" to make decisions regarding the funding of Social Security and other government programs.

Speaking on Fox Business, the Georgia representative said some "hard decisions" about mandatory funds for certain health and social welfare programs are on the way for Congress, with both chambers set to be controlled by the GOP following the results of the November 5 election.

"We're going to have some hard decisions," McCormick said. "We have got to bring the Democrats in to talk about Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare. There is hundreds of billions of dollars to be saved and we know how to do it, we just have to have the stomach to actually take those challenges on."

In the 2024 fiscal year, which ended in September, $1.46 trillion was spent on Social Security, which pays retirement, survivor and disability benefits to tens of millions of Americans every month. In the 2025 fiscal year to date, $125 billion has been spent on Social Security.

His comments are at odds with previous promises made by President-elect Donald Trump, who vowed during his 2024 election campaign that there would be no such cuts to Social Security and Medicaid, but has not made similar promises regarding Medicare. Newsweek has contacted McCormick's office for comment via email outside of regular working hours.

A stock image of Social Security cards with U.S. dollar bills. McCormick's comments were at odds with promises made by Trump in recent months. A stock image of Social Security cards with U.S. dollar bills. McCormick's comments were at odds with promises made by Trump in recent months. GETTY

When asked by Fox host Maria Bartiromo whether he believes the U.S. Defense budget should be cut, McCormick, who is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Armed Services Committee, said he is "not a big fan" of the idea, referencing "unstable" situations in Taiwan, the Middle East, and Ukraine.

McCormick's comments arose from a discussion regarding the national debt and posts on X, formerly Twitter, by newly appointed co-head of the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk. As of October this year, the U.S. national debt sits at $35.95 trillion.

In his unofficial capacity at DOGE, Musk has previously vowed to cut $2 trillion from current government spending levels in an attempt to bring this down, which totaled $6.75 trillion between October 2023 and September 2024. He has not specified if he would aim to deliver this $2 trillion in savings in a single year or over a longer period of time, or which government departments would be targeted.

While some $1.46 trillion was spent on Social Security in the same period, other government departments take up a considerable chunk of spending. The defense budget amounted to $849.8 billion for the 2024 fiscal year.

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