What A Surprise!

    During the recently concluded Congressional campaigns Democrats attempted to portray Republican candidates as eager to cut Social Security. Republicans responded that they weren't a bit interested in cutting Social Security. So what do Republicans do now that the campaign (that went poorly for them) is over? Right, they start pressing for Social Security cuts. John Thune, who is second in the Senate Republican leadership, is saying that Republicans will press for Social Security cuts as part of the price they want paid for extending the debt ceiling.

    Please don't give me the "Republicans just want to save Social Security" dodge. That's not fooling anyone.

Time Off For Voting A Problem At SSA?

     From Government Executive:

Several agencies are ignoring or putting tight restrictions on the Biden administration’s directive to provide extra time off for employees to vote or work at the polls, according to dozens of workers, the union representing them and internal policies reviewed by Government Executive.  ...

To qualify for the bonus leave, GPO said, employees must be unable to vote due to work duties—such as due to work-related travel—and not have access to absentee voting. Early voting options must also be the same hours as normal election day hours to remain eligible for the time off. If an employee can vote on alternative days earlier in the morning or later at night than is available on Nov. 8, GPO would not provide administrative leave. ...

[A]gencies that employees flagged as non-receptive to leave-for-voting requests included the Veterans Affairs Department, Transportation Security Administration, Social Security Administration and Defense Department. ...

It Would Be Suicidal For The GOP To Actually Try To Do This But That's Not Stopping Them From Talking About It

     From the New York Times:

Congressional Republicans, eyeing a midterm election victory that could hand them control of the House and the Senate, have embraced plans to reduce federal spending on Social Security and Medicare, including cutting benefits for some retirees and raising the retirement age for both safety net programs. ...

The Republican leaders who would decide what legislation the House and the Senate would consider if their party won control of Congress have not said specifically what, if anything, they would do to the programs. ...

Yet several influential Republicans have signaled a new willingness to push for Medicare and Social Security spending cuts as part of future budget negotiations with President Biden. Their ideas include raising the age for collecting Social Security benefits to 70 from 67 and requiring many older Americans to pay higher premiums for their health coverage. ...

What Do You Think?

 

online polls

The Dream Never Dies

     From Bloomberg Government:

Social Security and Medicare eligibility changes, spending caps, and safety-net work requirements are among the top priorities for key House Republicans who want to use next year’s debt-limit deadline to extract concessions from Democrats.

The four Republicans interested in serving as House Budget Committee chairman in the next Congress said in interviews that next year’s deadline to raise or suspend the debt ceiling is a point of leverage if their party can win control of the House in the November midterm elections. ...

A bipartisan negotiation on Social Security and Medicare would likely start with Democrats pushing for more revenue, while “Republicans have a list of eligibility reforms, and we don’t like the tax increases,” Arrington said. He said an increase in the eligibility age for both programs would be a commonsense change.

Reducing benefits for wealthier Americans could also cut costs, Smucker said.

“We should ensure that we keep the promises that were made to the people who really need it, the people who are relying on it,” Smucker said. “So some sort of means-testing potentially would help to ensure that we can do that.” ...

    Republicans have this longstanding dream that they can force Democrats to accept major cuts in Social Security and then find a way to blame Democrats for those unpopular cuts. Jujitsu! That hasn't worked in the past and it's not going to work next year. Democrats will go to the mattresses over means testing Social Security or raising full retirement age. Republicans won't have the stomach to go to the mattresses themselves over obtaining the cuts.

Social Security An Issue In Campaign 2022

     It is becoming clear that Democrats want to make Social Security a significant campaign issue for the upcoming mid-term election. Yesterday, the President warned that Republicans want to "sunset" Social Security.     

    Of course, the New York Times tried to "both sides" the issue by warning that Social Security is in "limbo" and on "unstable ground" neither of which is true. The Department of Defense isn't funded past midnight Friday. Does that mean that the nation's defense is in "limbo" and on "unstable ground"? 

    Current funding mechanisms for Social Security really aren't what assures that Social Security will remain afloat. Those could always be changed for the worse. Social Security's future is guaranteed because the American people love Social Security and depend heavily upon it. That's not going to change. This means that Republican talk of "sunsetting" Social Security is absurd. You could also say that it's absurd to warn that Social Security could be "sunsetted" if Republicans have their way but at least the President is talking about the hopeless desire of many Republicans.

Democrats Pound Ron Johnson On Social Security

     I hate to keep harping on it but it's becoming obvious that Senator Ron Johnson's (R-WI) expressed desire to sunset Social Security is becoming a major focus of Democratic efforts to retain control of the Senate after this November's election. See these pieces from Huffpost and Bloomberg.

We Don't Talk About Social Security

    Ramesh Ponnuru, a fellow at the right wing American Enterprise Institute, has written an opinion piece for Bloomberg, giving advice to Republicans on how to handle Social Security issues during this election season. He makes it clear that he believes that Social Security must be cut. That's the first thing he talks about. However, he acknowledges that this is wildly unpopular and extremely unlikely to happen. Thus, he basically advises Republicans to shut up about Social Security.

    That's not completely reassuring. Republicans would be better advised to permanently forget about cutting Social Security. That will never, ever be anything other than political suicide for the Republican party. Never, ever. People like Ponnuru are part of the problem for Republicans. They keep up a slow, pointless drumbeat for cutting Social Security that makes some in the GOP think it is actually something that can and should happen and which gives many Americans good reason to believe that they can't trust Republicans on Social Security.

And He's Up For Re-Election This Year!

     Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) didn't stop with his plan to make Social Security benefits subject to annual appropriations. Now, he's back to insist that Social Security wasn't set up properly to begin with, that in the midst of the Great Depression, not long after the original Black Friday, with memories still fresh of stock brokers plummeting from windows, that the Trust Fund should have been invested in stocks! I think that at that time his idea might have gotten him locked up for insanity. (The standards for involuntary commitment were looser in those days.) Of course, it's still a bad idea for many reasons but in the 1930s? How ignorant can you be of history?

Will Social Security Be An Issue In The 2022 Elections?

     From Fox News:

President Biden on Monday commemorated the 87th anniversary of the Social Security Act becoming law by touting Democrat plans to protect, expand and deliver "stronger" benefits to recipients, while warning that a Republican-controlled Congress could put the program "on the chopping block."  ...

Look, if you know me, you know I think rebuilding the middle class is the moral obligation of our time," Biden says in the video. "Social Security allows for our seniors to retire with dignity, and me and my Democratic friends on the hill are trying to protect it and expand it." ...

"But here’s what’s crazy," Biden continued. "Republicans on the hill—they want to put it on the chopping block."

"Every five years it would come up to reconsideration, whether it continues or not," Biden said. "Think about that."

Biden was referring to a plan Republican Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., proposed earlier this year that would sunset Social Security and Medicare within five years.

"Let me ask you have you ever seen the Republicans on Capitol Hill do anything to protect or increase or to benefit Social Security?" Biden asked. ...

"So here’s the deal, with Democrats in Congress, you get stronger social security because you paid for it and you deserve it," Biden said. "With Republicans in Congress, it’s probably going to get sliced." ...

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shut down Scott’s proposal earlier this year, stressing that Republicans "will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years." ...

CDR Coming For PA Lt. Governor Candidate?

 

No Kidding

      From Julia Manchester, writing for The Hill:

A poll conducted on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee found that a majority of battleground state voters would be less likely to support Republicans if the GOP moved to end Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. 

Sixty-five percent of respondents said they would be less likely to support the GOP “If Senate Republicans have a new plan that would end Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in five years,” according to the poll ...

The findings come as Senate Democrats launch an onslaught of attacks on their GOP colleagues, pointing to Sen. Rick Scott’s (Fla.) GOP platform proposal that his office independently released in February. 

While Senate Republicans have not released their official agenda, Scott, who also chairs the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, released one in his own capacity. ...

In the plan, Scott calls for all federal legislation to sunset within a period of five years. Such an action would allow the possibility for those programs to end if Congress did not approve them.  ...