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House speaker McCarthy opens door to Medicare and Social Security cuts

Written by

Diane Archer

in

,

In an opinion piece for The Hill, Max Richtman, CEO of National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, writes about the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy’s likely intent to cut Social Security and Medicare, notwithstanding the slim margin by which Republicans took control of the House. Americans were not voting for representatives who would cut their earned benefits.

McCarthy had to make concessions to win the position of House Speaker. One of those was to commit to tying the lifting of the debt ceiling to cuts in federal spending. The Republicans have always wanted cuts to Medicare and Social Security.

Of course, President Biden can veto any legislation that slashes Medicare and Social Security. And the Democratic majority in the Senate is not likely to support these cuts in the first place. Still, Biden cannot allow the federal government to default on its financial obligations.

Congress must lift the debt ceiling.  Last time the Republicans held a Democratic administration hostage over lifting the debt ceiling, the Obama administration had to agree to limits on spending.

Already, Speaker McCarthy has established new rules for the House that makes it more difficult for Congress to pay for critical programs.

What might the House propose in the way of cuts under McCarthy’s leadership? For one, raising the eligibility age for Medicare and Social Security. For two, making Medicare more expensive for people with annual incomes as low as $49,000.

The House could also slash Social Security benefits, if not not for current retirees, for future ones. This policy is designed to keep voters at bay. More than four in five Americans support expanding Social Security.  And, they want to pay for it through eliminating the cap on Social Security payroll contributions. They want wealthy Americans to contribute a more proportionate and fairer share of their income to Social Security relative to middle and lower-income Americans.

Thankfully, President Biden has promised not to  cut Social Security and Medicare. But, he will be under a lot of pressure to do so. We must all speak up and contact the White House and our representatives in Congress. We need to make sure they know voters want Medicare and Social Security expanded, not slashed.

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Comments

4 responses to “House speaker McCarthy opens door to Medicare and Social Security cuts”

  1. B.C. Shelby Avatar
    B.C. Shelby

    …there is another threat here which comes in the form of coal baron Joe Manchin.

    In his sordid view or “bipartisanship” ( which pretty much translates to giving into (R)s demands) he is pushing a “compromise” of his own that includes supporting Mitt Romney’s (remember him they gous who everyo#new lauded for standing up to T—-?) “Trust Act”. her is nothing to “trust” about about this measure as it alls for fast tracking cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other social spending to be done in closed door session ( out of public view and debate).

    Yeah down deep, Mitt Romney is still just another (R) who looks to see the demise or privatisation of social programmes. Meanwhile Joe Manchin not satisfied with tanking the Biden administration’s measurers, voting rights, and real election integrity now has taken aim at Social Security and Medicare though supporting Romney’s proposal. It is bad enough that the extremists of the (R) party have been put in important committee positions and while a minority within the minority party have the ear of McCarthy (who actually thanked the Big Liar for helping him become Speaker). Now we have a member of the (D) caucus bent on again helping them do their dirty work. THe fact that SIneam and he high fived each other about their support of the filibuster which gave Mitch his obstructive powers back was downright sickening. Both are little more than malicious saboteurs, working for themselves and against hte people they are supposed to be representing and supporting ( which is usually a “hallmark” of the (R)s).

    We need to stay vigilant eye on this as even though the (D)s gained a seat in the Senate these two turncoats can still create misery for millions.

    Reply
    1. B.C. Shelby Avatar
      B.C. Shelby

      Correction:

      “remember him they gous who everyo#new lauded…” should read “remember him, the guy everyone lauded…”

      WIsh there was an edit function to fix typos.

      Reply
    2. Andrea Avatar
      Andrea

      Yes! I just read about sociopath Mansion (this is proper spelling) & his efforts to destroy our Earned benefits!

      What makes me very upset now is to see how few sites there are on YT, and MSM that actually tries to bring up all the nasty facts that Rethuglicons don’t want Americans to know about:
      Like the fact that 1/4 of our debt today is made up of Rethuglicons tax cuts from 2017!! Not one Rethuglicon is even talking about this fact nor are they talking about reversing these tax cuts for the greedy rich that continue to blow & huge hole every year!!
      Yet, we are all suppose to believe them when they complain about OUR hard-earned Social Security & Medicare being any kind of problem related to nat’l debt???!!

      Next, we all need to contact all our DC politicians right now & tell them how angry you are & need to pass a clean debt ceiling–just like ALL Rethuglicons did 3 times without 1 word!!! when 45 was president!!
      Also contact President Biden @ the Whitehouse.gov & ditto, there.
      Social Security Works supports progressive politicians.
      National Committee to Preserve Soc Sec & Medicare is not exactly the best organization as they endorsed “Balanced Budget”-lover, Josh Gottheimer, (D) who voted with all Rethuglicons for a Balanced Budget when Paul Ryan was House leader. NOT a good Democrat, at all!! (Sinema was in the House then & did the same thing with her lousy bff, Josh.)
      SocialSecurityWorks.org is the place you want to join for real help.

      Reply
  2. Andrea Avatar
    Andrea

    Besides subscribing to “Just Care” newsletter, please subscribe to a progressive Social Security/Medicare advocate organization like Social Security Works.org. The ppl that lead this organization really stays on top of politicians & their actions to errod our precious safety net programs.

    To privatize any program is to destroy it! Period. George W Bush tried that back in 2005 but fortunately his efforts failed. So now, again using Debt Ceiling as their excuse, Rethuglicons are going to take OUR precious earned benefits as hostage.
    This is the time ALL Democrats need to get noisy and grab the public mics on every MSM channel to get this evil plan out to every American.

    Right-wing voters aren’t listening or hearing whatever Democrats are trying to tell them. Democrats messaging is often muted by corporate fascists who OWN the MSM!! Right wing voters only hear FOX, Newsmax lies and BS!
    Democrats need to get on it asap–& it must start with Biden. I urge all Americans who care about this issue–WE ALL SHOULD, to write/phone Whitehouse.gov and all your DC politicians, especially if they are Rethuglicons. Tell them how you demand then to pass a clean debt ceiling.

    Know that 1/4 of our current debt is made up of just Rethuglicons tax cuts for the greedy rich passed 2017!! And not one Rethuglicon is even talking about reversing that black hole they blasted in our debt!!! The gaul of Rethuglicons to even try to destroy our Social Security & Medicare now is beyond demented & sociopathic.

    Rightwing billionaires like Charles Koch doesn’t want the government to provide any help to anyone but the military and courts, in other words, he wants all regular Americans (those who are greedy rich like him) to rely only on charity–that means begging in the streets!!
    Make noise, people!! All DC politicians must hear from us now!

    Reply

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