Just to expand, most of the 70% in transfer payments is Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The idea that these programs could be stopped or greatly reduced without a gigantic ruckus is not credible.
IMO, those programs can be stopped, but not cold turkey. People who have worked all their lives and paid into SS and Medicare with the promise of SS income and Medicare can’t have the rug pulled out from under them.
But the next generation can go without. There are many, many possible ways to do this. One possibility is a forced retirement savings/investment account. One that the owner controls, not the government. No “lockboxes” that the government has access to and can dip into to fund the next boondoggle.
For those who are mid-career, they could stay in, have some blended version of SS/private investment, or could be bought out, among other options. It should be the citizens choice of which option to choose.