Social Security card, front and back, top and bottom, Form OA-702. Rev. (9-61)
“Even many Republicans stand for protecting Social Security and Medicare—but they’ve shown they can’t be trusted to keep that promise.”– Social Security Works (Feb. 7, 2023) .
By Jack Bernard, contributing columnist
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | GOP congressmen are up in arms over President Biden’s daring to say that Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare. After a fact check by several sources, we found that the president spoke the truth.
The progressive Social Security Works group does not trust Republicans and neither do many other liberal groups. And for good reason. The GOP has a long history of attacking these programs via indirect means.
Former President Trump vowed to save and protect Social Security and Medicare. Contrary to his promise, he then appointed, and the Senate confirmed on a party line vote, Sandy Springs’ Rep. Tom Price as the head of Department of Health and Human Services. Price, as well as then House Speaker Paul Ryan, wanted to do away with traditional Medicare and raise the age of eligibility for Social Security.
Neither suggested the better alternative, doing away with the maximum taxable amount under Social Security. The cap is $160,200 for 2023. The wealthy pay nothing into Social Security after that amount, even if they make millions.
As for Medicare, I do not want to hear the GOP say yet again that the only way to save it is to do away with it by making it a voucher program, dumping costs on seniors. Instead, how about doing away with the expensive Medicare Advantage program? It was originally touted as a way to save money via privatization, but is riddled with fraud and has cost taxpayers more every year.
Instead of slashing hard won entitlement benefits, cut elsewhere and raise revenues to balance the budget. Other federal government programs should be evaluated based on costs and benefits and funding for ineffective programs should be modified. Perhaps the best place to cut is on military spending, which is out of control and has gone from $46 billion in 1960 to $778 billion under Trump! (Can you imagine?) Planes, tanks, and other items in the budget primarily because of lobbying by the industrial military complex, (Ike’s timeless phrase), need to be deleted.
And raise taxes to make them equitable for all. For a start, how about repealing the ridiculous Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, who don’t need the extra income. And we can slash other forms of corporate welfare, such as government payments to oil companies and corporate farms.
There are 101 areas that really do need cuts and more monitoring for fraud and abuse, but I think we all get the picture. The sick and elderly can’t adequately defend themselves. There are no powerful lobbyists pressuring Congressmen on their behalf.
The current crop of conservatives have poor memories. Bill Clinton and a GOP Congress stopped the rise in deficits by balancing the budget without cutting domestic programs like Medicare and Social Security. The GOP and Clinton worked together to: a) cut military expenditures; b) grow the economy; and c) increase taxes equitably.
If McConnell and McCarthy want to work with Biden to balance the budget, it can be done again. They just have to work at it, which at present, they are obviously not doing.
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