HUFFPOST
President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address was a raucous affair on Tuesday night, with Republicans in attendance regularly heckling, yelling and booing as he laid out his accomplishments and his vision for the nation.
It was a far cry from the “You lie!” incident of 2009, when Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted at President Barack Obama during his address. The event was so remarkable that Wilson was formally admonished by the House.
But politics in 2023 is a different affair, with some Republican lawmakers making a national name for themselves as the loudest characters in the room. So what had the GOP up in arms?
Biden called out Republicans who want to cut retirement benefits.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), clad in a fluffy white coat, had the most notable outburst of the night, bellowing that Biden was a liar after he said some Republicans wanted to put the future of Social Security and Medicare at risk.
“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years,” the president said, referring to an unpopular but real proposal by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) to subject the programs to a process in which they would end unless Congress voted to renew them.
“Liar!” Greene shouted as other Republicans yelled “No!” from their seats.
Some Republicans have already signaled that they’d like to cut aspects of Social Security and Medicare with their new, albeit slim, majority in the House. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has backed away from the idea in recent weeks, saying the party “won’t touch” the programs.
