MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that some people “game the system” to receive disability payments they don’t deserve and later criticized the federal government for not doing an adequate job policing a system he says needs reform.
During a meeting with Republican state lawmakers, Paul said fraud is a widespread problem in disability programs that help people who are injured at work. He joked that “half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts.”
“Join the club,” Paul said. “Everybody over 40 has a back pain.”
The Kentucky Republican added: “We all know people who are horrifically disabled and can’t work, but if you have able-bodied people taking the money, there’s not going to be anything left for people who are truly disabled.”
The Democratic National Committee seized on the comments, calling them offensive. Alex Lawson, the executive director of the advocacy group Social Security Works, said the U.S. has among the strictest standards for assessing disability claims in the work and accused Paul of trying to creating a “false crisis.”