Republicans immediately heckled President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address Tuesday night after he accused some GOP members of proposing policies that could threaten Social Security and Medicare. 

Following the speech, Republicans continued to voice their support for the programs while accusing Biden of being dishonest about their position.

“It's the classic Democrat lie: ‘They're going to throw Granny off the cliff again,’” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said during an appearance on Fox News after the speech. “At least half the chamber began laughing because it's fundamentally false. We should be strengthening and preserving Social Security and Medicare.”

Republicans say Biden misled Americans by claiming Social Security and Medicare are part of their demands to agree to raise the debt ceiling this year. 

But the president’s accusation that some GOP members have proposed sunsetting the programs was not fabricated out of thin air, and he acknowledged that he didn’t believe the majority of Republicans — “I don’t even think it’s even a significant” amount, he said — supported such a plan. 

Biden weighed into the issue about 30 minutes into his address. 

“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset,” he said. 

The comment prompted a large contingent of Republicans to shout back at Biden. 

“Anybody who doubts it, contact my office,” Biden responded. “I’ll give you a copy. I’ll give you a copy of the proposal.”

The House Republicans’ Twitter account quickly posted a video excerpt of Speaker Kevin McCarthy saying in a speech about the debt ceiling: "Cuts to Medicare and Social Security, they are off the table."

“Joe Biden is LAIR,” the tweet read.

Biden said he would not name the Republicans behind such proposals, but the White House made it clear in a tweet Wednesday he was referring to Rep. Rick Scott, R-Fla. Scott, who until last month chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, had already assumed as much.

In his 12-point “Rescue America” plan last year, Scott proposed that all federal legislation sunset after five years, meaning the laws would need to be passed again to remain in effect.

“If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” his proposal said.

“This is clearly & obviously an idea aimed at dealing with ALL the crazy new laws our Congress has been passing of late,” Scott wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning.

“Does he think I also intend to get rid of the U.S. Navy? Or the border patrol? Or air traffic control, maybe?” added Scott, who says he does not support cutting Social Security or Medicare.

That part of Scott’s proposal did not specifically mention Social Security or Medicare — although they would be included in needing to be repassed. But he also suggested requiring Congress to “issue a report every year telling the public what they plan to do when Social Security and Medicare go bankrupt.”

The programs face financial challenges and could run out of money around the mid-2030s. 

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has had similar ideas. He suggested during a podcast interview in August that Social Security and Medicare be eliminated as federal entitlement programs and instead be included in the budget approved by Congress each year. 

“If you qualify for the entitlement, you just get it no matter what the cost,” Johnson said. “And our problem in this country is that more than 70% of our federal budget, of our federal spending, is all mandatory spending. It’s on automatic pilot. You just don’t do proper oversight. You don’t get in there and fix the programs going bankrupt.”

And in June, the Republican Study Committee in the House released a budget plan that recommended gradually raising the Medicare age of eligibility from 65 to 67 and pushing the Social Security full retirement age back from 65 or 66, depending on birth year, to 70. The lawmakers cited increasing average life expectancy.

Democrats have charged that raising the eligibility ages would effectively be cuts to the programs. 

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., came to Biden’s defense Wednesday.

“You know why @POTUS predicted Republicans will try to cut Medicare and Social Security?” he tweeted. “Because they keep proposing it, over and over! Just last Congress, 160 Republicans proposed raising the Social Security retirement age to 70.

After the backlash from Republicans during his speech, Biden commented, “So, folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right? … We’ve got unanimity.”

The president added that he considers the programs to be “a lifeline for millions of seniors” and vowed to veto any bills that would make cuts to them.

McCarthy told Fox News on Wednesday morning that Biden was “trying to goad” Republican members, who he said are passionate about the issue.

“We need to be smart. Don't take the bait,” McCarthy said. “Stay with the American public about what we want to do — curb this runaway spending.”