(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
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Rep. Larson and Nancy Altman: Voters Want Congress to Expand Social Security — Not Cut It Behind Closed Doors [1]
['Lew Blank']
Date: 2024-02-29
By Representative John Larson and Nancy Altman
When Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) was elected speaker of the House, he immediately called for a “debt commission” designed to slash Social Security and Medicare behind closed doors.
In January, the House Budget Committee approved a bill to create such a commission, with every Republican voting in favor. During the committee’s mark-up of the bill, Democrats offered amendments to protect Social Security and Medicare, which Republicans immediately voted down. The committee’s chairman, Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), has openly discussed plans to have Congress pass the commission into law as part of a must-pass government funding bill.
This is not just idle talk from Johnson, Arrington, and their fellow congressional Republicans. It is an existential threat to Social Security and Medicare. Any cuts to these programs would be fast-tracked with no opportunity for amendment, and could be voted on in the lame-duck Congress, including by those who had just been defeated or were retiring. It is as undemocratic as it can get, designed to exclude any meaningful input from the American people.
Two major government funding deadlines are approaching in March. If Republicans get their way by leveraging these deadlines to force through a commission, they will do so against the will of the American people — including their own voters.
In the words of White House spokesman Andrew Bates: “The House GOP is now threatening to single-handedly shut the American government down unless they can jam a death panel for Medicare and Social Security down the country's throat.”
New polling from Data for Progress shows that voters across party lines reject a commission designed to cut government spending, including Social Security and Medicare. Seventy percent of voters, including 71% of Republican voters, oppose the idea.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dataforprogress.org/insights/2024/2/29/voters-want-congress-to-expand-social-security-not-cut-it-behind-closed-doors
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