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Republicans insist they want to 'save' Social Security but like most GOP stories, that's a lie [1]
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Date: 2023-03-17
That brought a rebuke from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), the committee’s chair, who told him he’d gone “over the line” and Cassidy backed down a little, saying he wasn’t calling Yellen a liar, but he kept pushing, adding that line about how “not one dime” of Biden’s tax increases would shore up Social Security.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) jumped in, asking rhetorically, “Aren’t you concerned about our inability to honor those promises?” Which is rich, coming from the guy who wants to change the whole structure of the program and make it subject to renewal by Congress every year.
Of course what the GOP has in mind is ending Social Security, and of course raising the retirement age—the “solution” they seem to be gravitating toward—is a cut to the program and a key step along the way to achieving that ultimate goal. It’s all about eroding the benefits people need in old age. That’s exactly what raising the retirement age would do: reduce benefits, particularly for the big chunk of people (about half of all retirees now) who choose to or are forced due to health or other reasons to retire early.
It only sounds like a reasonable thing to force people to do if you’re someone with a cushy day job you can do well into your 70s, and people who aren’t going to be relying on Social Security for the entirety of their livelihood in old age.
So let’s go back to Cassidy and his claim of “not one dime” of tax increases going to Social Security. There’s your fix, and it’s a painless one for just about everybody: raise the payroll tax cap so that rich people pay in. This really is a perfect political and practical solution for Democrats to be pushing. It’s fair. It saves Social Security. And the inevitable Republican opposition to it would prove yet again that their only real agenda is keep taxes low for the rich.
What Democrats really don’t need to do is give the GOP oxygen on the issue and help the GOP pretend like they’re really trying to “save” Social Security.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/17/2158822/-The-GOP-insists-it-wants-to-save-Social-Security-but-like-most-GOP-stories-that-s-a-lie
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