Republicans' plans to slash Social Security and Medicare are becoming clearer: 'We have no choice...

[nightwing1240]

Jason Lalljee
Wed, January 25, 2023 at 5:30 AM EST

Reports suggest that concessions Rep. Kevin McCarthy made to secure his Speaker seat involved promoting cuts to entitlement programs.Kent Nishimura House Republicans have alluded to cuts they want to make to the federal budget for months.

They're becoming more explicit about those cuts involving Medicare and Social Security funds.

They've indicated that they're willing to leverage raising the debt ceiling to secure cuts. Not raising the ceiling could spell financial disaster.

After being evasive about their plans for entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare in the months leading up to midterms, the House GOP has begun to confirm its intention to cut spending on both.

That's according to The Washington Post's Tony Romm, who reported that Republican lawmakers are willing to use the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip in order to get the Biden administration to cave on spending cuts to Medicare and Social Security. Failing to raise the debt ceiling by the summer could cause the US to default on its debt for the first time in history, the consequences of which would be dire.

"We have no choice but to make hard decisions," Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, leader of the conservative Republican Study Committee, told The Post. "Everybody has to look at everything."

snip

The White House, and Democratic lawmakers, have criticized the GOP using the debt limit to implement cuts to Medicare and Social Security.

"They claim their plan to use the debt ceiling to trigger global economic chaos is about fiscal responsibility. It's not," Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote in a Boston Globe op-ed this month. "The House Republican plan for the debt ceiling is about protecting the wealthy and the well-connected from paying their fair share in taxes — nothing more and nothing less."

Link - https://www.yahoo.com/news/republicans-plans-slash-social-security-103000327.html
------------------------
No choice? Why not choose to get rid of tax cuts to the mega wealthy? Sounds like a choice to me. I swear these pricks are heartless, fu^k em all!

[hibbing]

1. Rinse and repeat always with these aholes n/t

[fightforfreedom]

5. Exactly.

They always give tax cuts to the rich which raises the debt, then they bitch about the debt and go after SS and Medicare. Any American who con't recognize this by now is either blind or braindead.

[jaxexpat]

14. "... blind or braindead" describes half the electorate.

Time to play super hardball. I rseem to recall the president has veto power. That will save the world this time but, unfortunately, by 2024 too many will forget just how close the Republicans got toward having us all take a huge hit.

[Miles Archer]

53. IF voters give Republicans Senate gains AND a Republican president in 2024...

...I think you can pretty much guarantee the end of both programs.

Especially if voters elect "President DeSantis," whose entire brand is based in cruelty.

My concern is that if Republicans manage to PASS this with their thin majority, and if it fails to get past the Senate or is vetoed by Biden, that won't be the end of it. And voters won't care...they'll be more interested in what's going on with the Kardashians.

They are also dusting off "The Fair Tax"...EVERYTHING TAXED at 30%, a REGRESSIVE tax for middle America and another handout to millionaires...just the way Republicans like it.

[napi21]

81. That damn Fair Tax Act is a killer to those of us living on socia security! Big increase on

everything you buy with no reduction on anything!

[markodochartaigh]

69. . "... blind or braindead" describes half the electorate."

Well, half the electorate who bother to vote. But one third of the electorate can't be bothered to vote. If the Democrats can educate and motivate enough of this third the Democratic party could win in 80% of the US.

[homegirl]

56. LET'S GET IT STRAIGHT

Social Security is NOT an entitlement-it is an EARNED Benefit!!

[EmmaLee E]

67. Do you remember the Social Security Trust Fund?

which was supposed to be separate and only to fund Social Security.
Would have been solvent.

But the fund was not kept separate, and was raided.

[Evolve Dammit]

75. Yes it was. Welcome to DU!

[BadgerMom]

68. Came to say THIS!

[Irish_Dem]

2. The GOP believes that all US financial assets belong to them. Not the people.

Just like Putin has stolen most of Russia's wealth for his own personal bank account.

[Evolve Dammit]

76. GOP see everything as prey. Vulture capitalism and zero morality. And oh so proud of it. F'em.

[Irish_Dem]

79. Yes and people are just collateral damage.

Death, damage, destruction is just part of the game for them.
And they like it too.

[Model35mech]

3. No choice? That sounds a bit like Mr Putin

and both bring little more than the promise of unnecessary attacks on innocent people.

Hard-asses everywhere need their rump-roasts tenderized.

Considering the broad popularity of SS and medicare outside the circle of wing-nut ideologues it really shouldn't be too hard to hoist the R's on their petards for such a flogging.

[ProfessorPlum]

4. let me know when they've cut defense spending to a less-than-insane amount

then we can talk about SS and Medicare

[Alexander Of Assyria]

23. Increasing the bloated military budget is only thing deeply in debt America can agree on!

Cutting the military industrial complex is like India forsaking the holiness of the cow!

But yes, why on the militarized earth is only Bernie talking about that elephant in the room??

The MSM and politicos and journos avoid the topic like the bubonic plague!

It’s Moronic! And hypocritical in the extreme. And not just republicans, sad to say.

[Evolve Dammit]

77. well said.

[area51]

33. +1 n/t

[Ferrets are Cool]

6. The only way they get re-elected is because of the $$ from the mega wealthy. They don't dare

get rid of the tax cuts to their corporate masters.

[cornball 24]

30. Exactly!

[3Hotdogs]

7. Raising taxes on the top 10% - 15% or whatever. Or rescind Trump and McChimp's tax giveaways.

That is the perfect counter to the bullshit.

BUT I NEVER HEAR DEMOCRATIC LEADERS PROPOSE THIS. WHY?

[area51]

34. This. n/t

[Model35mech]

39. Or remove the permanent status of the tax cuts to billionaires

Their campaigns run on the notion that the R's cut taxes for everyone. But not in quite the same way.

The tax cuts for working Americans expire in 2027. The tax cuts for billionaires are deemed PERMANENT.

So another angle for the Dems to push is to change the permanence of the cuts so that EVERYONE's cuts have a similar lifespan. That's arguably VERY fair.

Reassign Trumps cuts for billionaires as EXPIRING 10 years after they were adopted.

[IbogaProject]

59. Uh they raised everyone's taxes in 2017

They cut the standard exemption, that in and of itself was a tax hike. They made a larger standard deduction but that came with limits on what could be deducted like Mortgage interest and Property taxes. And they middle class tax increases began in either 2019 or 2021, are going to hit again this 2023 tax year, again for the 2025 one and finally once more for the 2027 tax year. i'm very angry congress didn't vote to abolish the wealthy tax cuts and all the LLC pass through schemes legalized that benefit Kushner and Trump himself.

[doc03]

8. I find MAGAts are all for cutting SS and Medicare as long as it is for the younger

generation. As long as they get theirs f--- everyone else.

[DENVERPOPS]

51. This scenario started 20? years ago????????

I swear......the perfect title for a book on the last 40+ years would be: WHILE THE NATION SLEPT

Twenty years or so ago, two of the unions, Safeway Grocery and RTD bus drivers both sold out to management at the end of both groups contracts.

The existing Bus Drivers, signed off on a contract that gave THEM a dollar raise and, in turn, gave management the go ahead to start new hires at half of their wages. HALF.......Instead of new hires getting 20 bucks an hour, the "Got Mine, Screw You" mentality signed the contract that new hires would start at ten bucks. I couldn't believe it !!!!!!!!!!! I asked a couple of the RTD drivers I knew What.The.Fuck.Are.You.Doing??????? I told them they should be ashamed. There were countless union employees who had to go out on strike for long periods of time so that they could get the 21 bucks an hour that they were now enjoying.

Then the Safeway employees did the exact same thing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A safeway checker I was talking to last week told me he was up to 16 dollars an hour after ten years, and was excited. I shook my head and told him that I lived with a Journeyman checker in 1980, and she had eight years, and she was earning 20 bucks an hour in 1980. He just stared at me........

When Reagan, (actually it was HWBush and Cheney, et al) fired half the Air Traffic Controllers in 1980...it was the shot heard round the world, or at least across the U.S. It told every Union employee that there was a new sheriff in town, so to speak. The next week, I distinctly remember, the Denver Electrical Union was obliterated and they HAD been earning 22 an hour and 26% fringe. Suddenly, they were earning 12 an hour and zero fringe.............It took them nineteen years to get back to 22 an hour and only had 12% fringe.

Side Note on the ATC trying to control all the planes in the air with half the employees. Pilots told me that they were extremely frightened knowing the ATC were extremely short handed. They told me that when there were massive delays, the pilots could not inform the passengers that it was due to Air Traffic Controllers needing to space the planes farther apart. Airline management told them that they could only say "Due to ATC" delays, they were running behind schedule. Most passengers had no idea who the "ATC" was so they wouldn't know that it was a direct result of half the controllers being fired by Reagan.
Republicans didn't like the fact that there was a ton of money coming due to SSI retirees in the future. Money that wasn't there, because there was no "Lock Box" for SSI. The past politicians had merely thrown the money into the General fund and it was mostly spent. Soooooo Reagan panicked everyone, told them he needed to DOUBLE the SSI withholding to make sure there was ample money for the future. Of course everyone went along with that LIE. The money poured into the Fed Gov't and of course didn't go into a lock box, but into the general fund. It was a windfall to the Feds. Reagan used that surplus coming in to tell people we were in great shape and he instituted the Largest Tax Cut Ever, but he cut taxes only to the rich and corporations..........The future of SSI was still in danger.
And here we are today............In addition to tax cuts to the rich, he took many large deductions away that mostly helped the middle class, so it was a double whammy.

Like I said at the beginning: The perfect title for a book on the last 40+ years would be: WHILE THE NATION SLEPT

[markodochartaigh]

70. I remember Saturday Night Live

parodying Al Gore with his lockbox. The lockbox was obviously a great idea, but even left-leaning SNL was shooting us in the foot. Ignorance and apathy are the Achilles' heels of democracy, and the US has both in abundance.

[Skittles]

62. that's how they do it

back in the 80's, Regan fucked those who are now at SS age

[LastDemocratInSC]

9. I've paid into Social Security since 1972.

I've also paid for a life insurance policy since 1972.

If Social Security is an entitlement, is life insurance also an entitlement?

I consider both to be products that I have purchased to provide financial security for me and my family.

And then, there's Reagan's statement about the connection between Social Security and how it is funded:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Reagan+statement+about+social+security&oq=Reagan+statement+about+social+security+&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30j0i390.34267j0j1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:5478171d,vid:ihUoRD4pYzI

[skydive forever]

12. Great clip

Thanks

[Farmer-Rick]

42. Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit

That's what Saint Ronnie Raygun told everyone. I wonder why the GOPers don't even listen to their own Saints?

[LittleGirl]

10. THEY ARE NOT NOW or EVeR BEEN ENTITLEMENTs

I paid in, I want it all back. F them!

[Alexander Of Assyria]

24. The only Entitlement is the Military. Entitled to unfounded trillion without a whisper of protest,

except those the media won’t let the public hear. How much revenue does the military make to fund itself? $0.

Why is America afraid of a real damn debate?? It would be instructive and fun to have a public audit…taxpayers! Demand value! Demand answers!

[Pepsidog]

11. Shove their plan down their throats and if Dems don't make them pay for it then shame on us.

Messaging, Messaging, Messaging. Hang this albatross around Republicans' necks and stomp them into oblivion. Dems, can NOT cave on this.

[Rebl2]

13. Wouldn't it

have to pass the senate as well?

[Pepsidog]

16. Didn't Dems pass a huge increase in SS cost of living increase. Does anyone know about it. Pair

entitlement cuts dollar for dollar to student loans and let's see how the young like it.

[Rebl2]

38. Think it

automatically increases regarding inflation amount. Think maybe department of labor determines the increase. Democrats didn’t have anything to do with it.

[DENVERPOPS]

54. Huge Increase?????????

Tiny increases that are PURPOSELY not even tied to the TRUE cost of living increases. Not even near!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This year "they" passed an increase that did not take into account anything remotely close to reality!!!!!!!!!!

This past year alone, Utility Bills have gone up 50-100%. The cost of Gasoline has doubled or more. And don't even get me started on the cost of groceries which have increased 25+% and for packages that are 10-20 % smaller. The cost of Beef and Chicken have more than doubled.

The drain of Medicare By the Corporations is even more egregious......Hospitals, Medical insurance and supplemental Insurances, Drug costs, ALL SHOWING MASSIVE, UN-FATHOMABLE EXCESSIVE PROFITS ON THE BACKS OF THE ELDERLY....

NOTHING IS ANYWHERE NEAR AS HORRIFIC AS THE FACT THAT MEDICARE CANNOT NEGOTIATE PRICES ON DRUGS....EVEN OBAMA DIDN'T TRY TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THAT RAPING OF THE U.S. POPULATION.

[Skittles]

60. THANK YOU

I honestly do not understand inflation - they put it at 9% yet I literally see NOTHING that went up in price just 9%, not even CLOSE

[DENVERPOPS]

65. Back in Reagan days

he wanted to lower the rate of inflation which was outrageously high at that point, so the indicators were all changed to things that didn't accurately indicate the real or true Cost Of Living Index.........

And, we still have those today............Neither the Dem Politicians or Republican Politicians have wanted to correct them for obvious reasons.......Of course, THIS inflation would best be called Gouging/Profiteering...............

The worst inflation items are not in the luxuries, but in the area of basic necessities......and neither party has pointed that out, they just go with the flow...........

The simplest definition of Fascism is the merging of government and corporations........Sound Familiar to Anyone???????

They used the quasi inflation figures to adjust SSI last year, and I earned less every month because they just raised the amounts deducted by SSI for the medicare deductions, This year the inflation was astronomical, so I figured it would get a bit more from last years. LOLOLOL I got the new monthly for 2023, and it was a bit less than even last years, due to the same deductions.........

WTF?????????????????????????????????????????????

WASF

[nwduke]

15. THESE ARE NOT-

ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS!!! WE PAID FOR THEM!!!
For context, roughly 25% of our total national debt incurred over the last 230 years actually occurred during the 4 years of the Trump administration. That's right. 25% of our entire national debt, all during the Trump years. That would be tax cuts for billionaires and huge corporations!

[Pepsidog]

18. We all know here in DU that SS and Medicare are not entitlements. They are benefits

paid for through payroll tax deductions on our earnings.

[Aviation Pro]

19. Their technical definition is entitlements

The Code of Federal Regulations (20 CFR 404.403) spells it out, but the Bloated Ticks bank on half the electorate being stupid, which is not a bad bet.

https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/404/404-0303.htm

As used in this subpart:

Apply means to sign a form or statement that the Social Security Administration accepts as an application for benefits under the rules set out in subpart G.

Eligible means that a person would meet all the requirements for entitlement to benefits for a period of time but has not yet applied.

Entitled means that a person has applied and has proven his or her right to benefits for a period of time.

Insured person or the insured means someone who has enough earnings under social security to permit payment of benefits on his or her earnings record. The requirements for becoming insured are described in subpart B.

Permanent home means the true and fixed home (legal domicile) of a person. It is the place to which a person intends to return whenever he or she is absent.

Primary insurance amount means an amount that is determined from the average monthly earnings creditable to the insured person. This term and the manner in which it is computed are explained in subpart C.

We or Us means the Social Security Administration.

You means the person who has applied for benefits or the person for whom someone else has applied.

[nwduke]

74. This is not the context the Republicans think of SS and Medicare

They view it as it’s money that is not theirs and the government is just doling it out as a freebie!

[Aviation Pro]

17. It'll never reach the President's desk

Dumb fucks gotta dumb fuck.

[PortTack]

26. Exactly..President Biden will never do that. He cares too much about the American ppl and, knows

It would be political suicide.

These articles are a dime a dozen and aren’t worth printing or reading!

[bucolic_frolic]

20. 1) Republicans believe they own the country. 2) They tolerate Democrats to the extent they feed #1.

They "allow" a Democratic President every so often, then tie him up in knots. Recall the way they treated Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and look at the way they act and paint Joe Biden.

So yes, Granny on $600 a month Social Security isn't bird seed to the GOP.

Republicans will abuse the situation to empower and enrich themselves. It's all about ownership (thanks, GWB, the Ownership Society he told us) and private property. Theirs.

[PXR-5]

21. Interesting...

The Republicans I know say it's Biden and the "coastal elites" are the ones that want to cut SS and Medicare.

If the Republicans get their way, Biden will catch hell with conservative seniors.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Tax the rich

Wealth and income inequality levels are unsustainable.

The rich and ultra rich get rich because of infrastructure, education and defense that protects their assets around the world; paid for by taxpayers. The wealthy do not pay their share. Very few of them got that way from any extra intelligence and hard work beyond what tens of millions do, so those rationalizations don't wash.

[Layzeebeaver]

25. how many paragraphs to say the same damn thing over and over...

I hate modern journalism...

[PortTack]

27. Nailed it!

[Lonestarblue]

28. It's time to take the Social Security trust fund off budget again instead of including its revenue

and projected obligations as part of a unified federal budget. There is ample reason for doing so. The biggest one is that income taxes are intended to pay for the operation of the federal government. SS taxes are not income taxes and do not being in the general fund. In effect, what Republicans are arguing is that SS money should be used to give wealthy people and corporations big tax breaks.

Plenty of options exist fir addressing the debt, but SS and Medicare should not be on the table. Get rid of tax loopholes for the wealthy, stop subsidizing fossil fuels, look at the billions being wasted by the military, and raise taxes on the wealthy. Republicans ignore the fact that the top income tax rate was 70% when Reagan was elected. He proceeded to slash it, along with every other Republican administration, and today the rate is something like 35%. Even at that rate, many of the wealthy pay little or no tax because they have a huge arsenal of tax avoidance schemes.

[Mysterian]

29. "Republican Study Committee"

[CaptainTruth]

31. They want to destroy America so the rich can rule the ruins.

They've convinced me of it.

[Liberal In Texas]

32. And they've never said exactly WHAT in Medicare or Social Security they want to cut.

When and if they do they're going to ignite a shit storm if the MSM manages to get the information to the public, especially to seniors.

[KS Toronado]

35. So, Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma said

"Everybody has to look at everything." Ok then, let's look for classified documents at your house, let's
scrutinize your buying & selling of stocks & bonds in regards to the time frames of any related legislation
being passed, let's scrutinize all your bank & savings accounts with a fine tooth comb for any $$$ from
Putin or campaign finance violations.

[Botany]

36. So they want to cut the benifits which people have already paid for?

This tells me that they know the elections are dirty because why would anybody except for a
screaming Christo-Fascist dumb fuck vote for a republican?

[The Wizard]

37. Not entitlements

Earned benefits, language matters. Raise the SS cap to half a million and all of this crap stops. Tax the wealthy elites. the bribing class has been making the tax code to suit their greed.

[Skittles]

64. entitlement

literally entitlement means: the fact of having a right to something

people have the RIGHT to the money they have put into SS for decades

so in that sense, they ARE entitlements

unfortunately, entitled has also come to mean: the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment, which pretty much describes REPUBLICANS

[Lovie777]

40. Why is it so hard to understand?.....

how about the rich paying fair taxes. Americans pay for SS and Medicare and Medicaid while working for many years.

GQP are literary fucked up.

[sarcasmo]

41. "We have no choice" equals, keep the tax cuts for the rich.

[Emile]

43. You mean they lied to get reelected?

[Traildogbob]

44. Cut pensions and health care

For life, that passes to spouses for elected thieves. Like the asshole Melania that is set for life after the orange boil dies. I really don’t care about her, do you?

[Biglinda 52]

45. Easy Peasy

Hey Kevin---Cut YOUR pension and healthcare first. All those retired from Congress should go first. Show us your leadership.

[Emile]

46. By the look of the mansions they call their homes, they

appear to be over paid.

[Mad_Machine76]

47. Let them make their arguments to the people

and specify what they want to cut. Democrats shouldn't negotiate with them to help them do it.

[republianmushroom]

48. Yes they do

slash trumps tax cut for the wealthy. This do this they can kiss the Party goodbye

[housecat]

49. so what % of VOTERS will lose their SS ahd/or Medicare?

Republicans have their fingers in their ears, and name-calling has meant nothing. They need to feel pain before they listen

[SheltieLover]

50. Choice? Reinstate wealth tax!

[yaesu]

52. Corporate news will be pushing the we have no choice thingy all day long

But If we give in we will never win an election again. Let the fascists play their game, it's like Putin with his nukes, there will be a time when you must say enough is enough.

[Martin68]

55. Oc course they have no viable plans. It's just kabuki, and tax cuts can't be used to balance a

budget. They've painted themselves in a corner with the specter of threats to cut Medicare and Social Security hanging over them like a huge banner. It's a lose-lose situation for the bomb-throwers and their cowardly enablers.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

57. Like fucking hell they don't have a choice.

As you say, repeal the Trump tax cuts.

I've paid into Social Security for 50 years. I will be eligible for full benefits next year.

[Justice matters.]

83. They Are All Domestic Terrorists

[Samrob]

61. Yeah, we a choice. Make the wealthier pay more cause they take more. Means test both SS and MC

[Grins]

63. "We have no choice.... Everybody has to look at everything."

Except increasing taxes! The ONE true and effective thing they CAN do - but NEVER will!

[hadEnuf]

66. Cutting Social Security or any related programs simply cuts the programs.

Giving Republicans more taxpayer money to pilfer.

It will do nothing for the national debt. Seven trillion in Trump - GOP tax cuts for the rich is the problem with the national debt.

[honest.abe]

71. I dont see any specifics on what "slash" means??

Anyone know??

[dalton99a]

72. Kick

[BlueIdaho]

73. "We have no choice?"

How about “We have no future in politics.”

Fucking with Social Security is still the third rail of politics. Period.

[CrispyQ]

78. Cut the Trump tax cuts. -nt

[aggiesal]

80. Maybe the WH should offer ending Pendejo45's Tax Cut. ...

And ride that on the news everyday.
No SS, no Medicare, just Pendejo45's Tax cuts.

[Justice matters.]

82. They R All Domestic Terrorists

[ancianita]

84. "We have no choice" lingo is the new framing of Koch goals to eliminate social spending.

https://dianeravitch.net/2023/01/10/nancy-maclean-and-lisa-graves-charles-koch-is-still-funding-divisiveness-and-hate/


https://www.kochind.com/breaking-barriers/taking-a-stand/promoting-fairness