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Americans Don’t Support Cutting Social Security & Medicare for Deficit Reduction – Even Wall Street-backed “Third Way” Agrees.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Americans do not support cutting Social Security and Medicare to pay down the debt.
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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, recently pointed to “entitlements” as the key cause of rising federal deficits, and blamed Democrats for refusing to go along with proposals to cut spending by Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
McConnell was responding to a report from the U.S. Department of the Treasury last month that the budget deficit grew to $779 billion in fiscal 2018, the highest in six years. Treasury attributed the increase to the tax cuts contained in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), higher spending and rising interest payments.
The call for cuts to our very popular entitlement programs just before an election makes for surprising politics - and it is not selling well with the public; a poll this week by NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist (bit.ly/2zewazj) found that 60 percent of Americans would prefer to reverse the tax cuts than cut spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
via Reuters.
Related Reading:
Sen. McConnell Reminds Retirees What They Have to Lose in November.
In fact, tax expenditures – especially the Trump/GOP tax cuts – are the number one drivers of the debt, not Social Security or Medicare. Social Security is self-funded and does not contribute to the debt. The same goes for Medicare Part A.
When asked about America’s soaring debt and deficits, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell lamented “It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem,” and he blames Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Rubbish. It’s not social spending that’s causing the federal deficit to soar. It’s Republican tax cuts, especially on corporations and the wealthy.
Look at the evidence. Of all 35 advanced economies, America’s spending on social programs like Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid is among the lowest, as you can see.
Also, Americans pay into Social Security and Medicare throughout their entire working lives.
via Common Dreams.
Related Reading:
Exploding the Budget Deficit Will Lead to Middle-Class Benefit Cuts.
The tax law would leave Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security vulnerable to benefit cuts because of its dramatic $1.5 trillion increase at a minimum in the public debt – an increase that will have to be offset in the future.
After instituting a $1.5 trillion tax cut and signing off on a $675 billion budget for the Department of Defense, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the only way to lower the record-high federal deficit would be to cut entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
“It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem,” McConnell said of the deficit, which grew 17 percent to $779 billion in fiscal year 2018. McConnell explained to Bloomberg that “it’s a bipartisan problem: Unwillingness to address the real drivers of the debt by doing anything to adjust those programs to the demographics of America in the future.” The deficit has increased 77 percent since McConnell became majority leader in 2015.
New Treasury Department analysis on Monday revealed that corporate tax cuts had a significant impact on the deficit this year.
via Newsweek.
Related Reading:
Senator McConnell blames Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for rising debt.
In fact, tax expenditures – especially the Trump/GOP tax cuts – are the number one drivers of the debt, not Social Security or Medicare. Social Security is self-funded and does not contribute to the debt.
However, under the ‘leadership’ of McConnell in the Senate and Paul Ryan in the House, none of these bills has been properly considered. Instead, McConnell and his cohorts insist that the only way forward is benefit cuts for future retirees.
Washington’s almost single-minded focus on the budget deficit has allowed the retirement deficit to grow with each passing year. Rather than cutting vital programs like Social Security and Medicare to pay down a deficit these programs did not create, Washington should be looking for ways to address the retirement deficit head-on. Part of the solution includes raising Social Security benefits.
Max Richtman via Huffington Post.
News for Today!
POLITICS
Dems Ask Boehner To Cancel Recess For Unemployment Vote. – HUFFINGTON POST. Democrats want House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to cancel an upcoming recess so lawmakers can restore unemployment insurance to more than a million workers whose benefits stopped in December.
DEBT/DEFICIT/BUDGET
House Passes $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill. – HUFFINGTON POST. The Republican-led House has approved a massive $1.1 trillion bill financing government agencies this year.
SOCIAL SECURITY
REPORT: Weekday Broadcast And Cable Evening News’ Social Security Debate. – MEDIA MATTERS. In the second half of 2013, weekday broadcast and cable evening news discussed Social Security in a largely negative light by repeatedly insisting that the program is insolvent, must be cut, or poses a risk to long-term fiscal security.
MEDICARE
Sen. Wyden unveils Medicare reform bill. – USA TODAY. Sen. Ron Wyden unveiled on Wednesday a proposal to revamp Medicare to focus care on the chronically ill and to rein in the program’s cost.
Congress Is Poised To Change Medicare Payment Policy. What Does That Mean For Patients And Doctors? – KAISER HEALTH NEWS. After years of legislative wrangling and last-minute patches, expectations are high among physician groups, lawmakers and Medicare beneficiaries that Congress could act this year to permanently replace the current Medicare physician payment formula.
HEALTHCARE
State Snapshots Of Obamacare Enrollment Numbers. – KAISER HEALTH NEWS. Enrollment in the health law’s marketplaces surged in December, and the administration’s report on the numbers made headlines on Monday — but the national story isn’t the whole story.
BLOGS
Meet the people who are so rich they`ve already paid their 2014 Social Security tax. – AMERICA BLOG. So you know that there are lots of kinds of taxes, right? And that in addition to the other taxes on income — federal income tax, state income tax — there’s also a Social Security tax and a Medicare tax, also on income, or more precisely, on wages.
Reforms proposed for chronically ill in Medicare. – THE HILL. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is proposing a series of reforms to improve how Medicare treats its sickest and most expensive patients.
In a recent interview with CNBC’s John Harwood, Representative Steve Stivers, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee — in effect, the man charged with containing the blue wave — declared that, given the size of the budget deficit, the federal government needs to save money by cutting spending on social programs. When pressed about whether that included Social Security and Medicare, he admitted that it did.
And he’s not alone in seeing major cuts in core programs for older Americans as the next step if Republicans win in November. Many major figures in the G.O.P., including the departing speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, and multiple senators, have said the same thing. (Meanwhile, groups tied to Ryan have been running attack ads accusing Democrats of planning to cut Medicare funding — but hey, consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. So, apparently, is honesty.)
Now, Republicans who call for cuts in social spending to balance the budget are showing extraordinary chutzpah, which is traditionally defined as what you exhibit when you kill your parents, then plead for mercy because you’re an orphan. After all, the same Republicans now wringing their hands over budget deficits just blew up that same deficit by enacting a huge tax cut for corporations and the wealthy.
via New York Times.
Related Reading:
How the Tax Law Affects Seniors.
- The tax law would leave Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security vulnerable to benefit cuts because of its dramatic $1.5 trillion increase at a minimum in the public debt – an increase that will have to be offset in the future.
(Photo Above: Yesterday National Committee volunteers testified in front of the House Democratic Policy Forum about the importance of strengthening Medicare and the dangers of the Ryan plan)
Social Security News:
Unmasking the most influential billionaire in U.S. politics. - Los Angeles Times
Paul Ryan Was Never a Moderate on Social Security. - Huffington Post
Medicare News:
Feds Crack Down on Medicare Readmissions. - Fox Business
Pelosi, House Democrats Return to Congress to Blast Romney, Ryan on Medicare. - National Journal
Politics:
Gang of 8 plots secret retreat. - Politico
A few basic misconceptions about Simpson-Bowles. - Washington Post
Some in Washington want to use the Chained CPI which will cut Social Security benefits for seniors, veterans, and the disabled. There is no reason for Social Security to be on the table during deficit reduction debates since it does not contribute one penny to the deficit.
Read more here:
http://huff.to/1ccM6m2
The Congressional Budget Office’s new budget projections show that despite the sky-is-falling crisis calls made by Wall Street backed austerity fanatics like: Fix The Debt, Bowles-Simpson and the rest of the Pete Peterson funded anti-Social Security brigade, our deficit is now the smallest it’s been since 2008.