“The MAGA Republicans are a different breed of cat,” Biden said, remarking that he sees two Republican parties. “In Congress they want to eliminate a lot of healthcare coverage, the MAGA Republicans.”

The president said he will stop Republicans if they take aim at programs like Social Security and Medicaid. He said his plans to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and cap the out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors will reduce the U.S. deficit.

“It’s going to lower the debt by $159 billion,” he said. “Right now, our tax dollars pay out through Medicare the help for the prescription drugs. If they have to pay out $159 billion less for prescription drugs it reduces the deficit. It’s a win-win. At long last we got it done.”

Biden said he wants to build on the victory against “big pharma” but “MAGA Republicans” stand in the way of that progress by trying to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. He cited the increases in federal debt during the Trump administration, commenting that it rose by 25%. He asked rhetorically why Congress would agree to pay the debt then but will not now — calling the threats of defaulting “just politics.”

“They’ve got no business playing politics with the lives of the American people and our nation’s economy,” Biden said.

The president repeated his challenge to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to “lay out” his proposed federal budget on March 9, when Biden plans to propose his. He said that if the Republican budget plan were to pass it would increase the deficit by $3 trillion in the next 10 years while cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy.

Biden warned that more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions would be at risk of losing access to critical healthcare if the Affordable Care Act was repealed. If Medicare and Medicaid were cut, the quality of healthcare would also be weakened he said, particularly at rural hospitals.

Biden applauded the work of nurses with a group of nurses to his right. He said they are the most underappreciated profession in the world, recalling time he spent at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., in intensive care. Biden was hospitalized there in 1988, after suffering a second brain aneurysm, The New York Times reports.

Earlier this month, the House Budget Committee proposed several cuts that would eliminate “wasteful, inefficient and unnecessary federal spending,” including a cap on ACA subsidies that were extended under Biden’s policies, however, none of the motions so far have included any slashes to Medicare.

But ahead of Biden’s trip to Virginia, the White House continued doubling down on Biden’s message, saying Congressional Republicans would seek to balance the budget by putting critical healthcare subsidies “on the chopping block.”

“Virtually every Republican budget or fiscal plan over the last decade has included repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and deep cuts to Medicaid,” the White House said in the statement, claiming GOP cuts would result in millions of Americans losing health coverage, higher healthcare costs, and the loss of critical protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Biden has also gone on the offensive in recent weeks, repeatedly accusing the GOP of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare — making it a key campaign issue following a rousing State of the Union address in which the president accused Republicans of wanting to “sunset” the country’s most popular government programs.

In Virginia, the president intends to keep up the pressure by spelling out the devastating potential of such cuts.

Earlier this month, Republican Sen. Rick Scott, of Florida — who originally proposed the sunset provision — denied ever specifically targeting Medicare, writing on Twitter that the president “twisted my words” and “forgot to share the facts.”

“In my plan, I suggested the following: All federal legislation sunsets in 5 yrs. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” Scott wrote. “I’ve never advocated cutting Social Security or Medicare and never would.”

The issue also emerged on the campaign trail before last year’s midterm election, when Biden called out Republicans for targeting the foundational benefits of millions of older Americans, while also casting “MAGA Republicans” as becoming too radical for mainstream voters.

Previously, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy indicated that changes to Social Security and Medicare would not be considered in the current negotiations.