Angry Bears’ Social Security expert Dale Coberly emailed this to me about the same time it showed up in my inbox. Republicans again are trying to sell the public on the need to cut Social Security and Medicare Budgets for those over 65. Cutting them while keeping the Trump tax breaks which will result in a trillion deficit by the time Reconciliation measures end in 2025. The cuts makes no sense as both programs are far more efficient and effect than the commercial versions of them. The only issue for both is strengthening them going into the future. Read on . . . ~~~~~~~~ Members of the Republican Study Committee in Michigan and Arizona. States in which I have lived and am now living. There are two states which I am interested in
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Angry Bears’ Social Security expert Dale Coberly emailed this to me about the same time it showed up in my inbox. Republicans again are trying to sell the public on the need to cut Social Security and Medicare Budgets for those over 65. Cutting them while keeping the Trump tax breaks which will result in a $2 trillion deficit by the time Reconciliation measures end in 2025.
The cuts makes no sense as both programs are far more efficient and effect than the commercial versions of them. The only issue for both is strengthening them going into the future. Read on . . .
~~~~~~~~
Members of the Republican Study Committee in Michigan and Arizona. States in which I have lived and am now living.
There are two states which I am interested in today. One is where I now live or Arizona and the other where I did live, Michigan. These are the critters on the Republican Study Committee which are proposing a proposition which will do great harm to those using Medicare and Social Security. Both of these programs have been paid for by workers over the years of their employment. Other members of the Republican Study Committee can be found here: Membership, Republican Study Committee, house.gov.
The RSC membership calls for raising the full Social Security retirement age from the current 67 (for anyone born in 1960 or later) to an unspecified older age. NCPSSM President and CEO, Max Richtman explains the “raising the retirement age would be a huge benefit cut. You would be receiving less money as a beneficiary during your lifetime.”
The RSC blueprint would also undermine the Medicare program. It calls for converting Medicare to a “premium support model” — otherwise known as vouchers or “coupon care.” Rep. Boyle points out. “Seniors would be left to fend for themselves in the insurance marketplace with nothing more than a coupon.” Medicare is far more effective in delivering less costly healthcare to seniors. Commercial supplemental is far more costly and should be a part of Traditional Medicare.
The trump tax cut has not broken even yet, will be rescinded as it was passed using Reconciliation rules, and resulted in a $2 trillion deficit. The report:
The Republican Study Committee Budget Cuts Earned Benefits; Keeps Trump Tax Cuts
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
Presented are solid clues as to Republicans plans for Americans’ earned benefits. That is if they maintain power in the House, recapture the Senate, and/or the White House. Look no further than the House Republican Study Committee (RSC) 2025 budget blueprint. For the second year in a row, the RSC proposes cutting Social Security and Medicare. Rep. Brendan Boyle, Ranking member of the House Budget committee, estimated at a hearing today that these cuts amount to $1.5 trillion for Social Security and $1 trillion for Medicare.
On the Social Security side, the RSC calls for raising the full Social Security retirement age from its current level of 67 (for anyone born in 1960 or later) to an unspecified older age. “Raising the retirement age is a huge benefit cut,” explains NCPSSM President and CEO, Max Richtman, “because you’d be receiving less money as a beneficiary during your lifetime.”
Republicans say that because (on average) people are living longer, they should be forced to work longer before collecting full Social Security benefits. They neglect to mention that workers in physically demanding jobs cannot always work into their late 60s — or that living longer means having to stretch what may be scant retirement savings over a longer period of time.
The RSC also proposes reducing benefits for “upper income earners.” This would put Social Security on a slippery slope toward means testing. “Means testing means Social Security would no longer be an earned benefit, but a welfare program,” says Richtman.
An analysis by the Center for American Progress estimates if the RSC proposal were in effect today, anyone whose lifetime wages averaged over $85,000 would be considered ‘wealthy’ and have their benefits cut — including the elimination of crucial spousal benefits. “We don’t usually consider people earning $85,000 per year wealthy,” says Maria Freese, NCPSSM’s senior legislative representative. “Making matters worse, in order to save the program any significant amount of money, benefits would have to be reduced for people earning even less than $85,000, cutting deep into the heart of the middle class.”
The RSC stresses that their spending plan “does not cut or delay retirement benefits for any senior in or near retirement.” But it would cut benefits for younger Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Z. “These younger workers will need every dollar of their Social Security benefits when they retire. Like the older generations, they earned these benefits and shouldn’t have them cut,” says Richtman.
Republicans may deny it, but cutting Social Security IS their fiscal plan, claiming that the government can’t afford to strengthen the program without cuts. At the same time, the RSC budget would make the Trump/GOP tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations permanent. They will not entertain, however, raising taxes on high income earners in order to bring more revenue into Social Security, which is the preferred solution of many congressional Democrats, President Biden, and advocates including NCPSSM.
The RSC blueprint not only threatens retirees’ and families’ financial security, but their health security, too, by undermining the Medicare program. It calls for converting Medicare to a “premium support model” — otherwise known as vouchers or “coupon care.” As Rep. Boyle pointed out, “Seniors would be left to fend for themselves in the insurance marketplace with nothing more than a coupon.”
With the 2024 elections looming, House Republicans couldn’t have put a finer point on their true priorities: shower the rich and corporations with huge tax breaks and cut the programs that working Americans rely on for financial and health security. This comes a week after Donald Trump told CNBC that there is “a lot to be done” in cutting “entitlements” (Social Security and Medicare), only to try to walk back that statement a few days later.
President Biden’s campaign tweeted in response to Trump’s CNBC comments,
“Not on my watch.”
On March 11, the President released his budget for the next fiscal year, which called for strengthening Social Security by adjusting the payroll tax cap so that anyone earning over $400,000 in wages would continue contributing to the system. In the past, the president advocated bolstering Medicare’s finances by leveraging some of the net investment tax paid by wealthier individuals.