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🇺🇸 Social Security Scuffle

🇺🇸 Social Security Scuffle

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February 15, 2023

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📉 Tuesday, February 14: President Biden Job Approval: Approve 45, Disapprove 53 (Rasmussen Reports)

🐘 Thursday, February 9: Nevada: Trump vs. Biden: Trump 42, Biden 40 (Nevada Independent)

🐘 Thursday, February 9: Nevada: DeSantis vs. Biden: DeSantis 42, Biden 36 (Nevada Independent)

🐘 Wednesday, February 8: 2024 Republican Presidential Nomination: Trump 42, DeSantis 32, Pence 8, Haley 5, Cruz 3, Rubio 3, Pompeo, T. Scott, Noem, Ryan

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US: Sen. Dianne Feinstein won't seek re-election in 2024 (Axios)

US: Inflation rose 0.5% in January, more than expected and up 6.4% from a year ago (CNBC)

US: Nikki Haley announces run for president, challenging Trump (AP) + Here's what both sides are saying about it (The Flag)

US: The Real Reason Trump Is Calling DeSantis ‘Meatball Ron’ (Daily Beast)

World: Cartel Violence Is Getting Out of Control in Mexico’s Tulum Resort Area (VICE)

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POLITICS

Social Security Scuffle

As debt limit negotiations continue, President Biden has continually suggested GOP lawmakers want to cut Medicare and Social Security. He made this point during his State of the Union Address, and more recently during a visit to Florida.

Reporting from the Left: Biden escalates fight over Social Security and Medicare, frustrating Republicans (NBC News)

Reporting from the Right: Biden will keep claiming GOP wants to cut Social Security, Medicare into the 2024 campaign, consultants say (Fox News)

From the Flag: Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said he won’t sign off on increasing the debt limit without securing spending cuts, but maintains Social Security and Medicare aren’t included. We covered the debt ceiling standoff previously. Here’s more from both sides.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

With Our Heads in the Sand, We’re Putting People's Futures At Risk

President Biden is using this issue – specifically Social Security – as a political straw man, while ignoring what must be done.
Capping the maximum retirement benefit would help send a message as to what Social Security aims to accomplish.
Biden, who supported cuts to Medicare and Social Security as a Senator, highlights why DC never gets anything done.

“Biden must reform Social Security if he won't stand for benefit cuts” Tiana Lowe, Washington Examiner Opinion: “As an octogenarian in politics is wont to do, President Joe Biden used his second State of the Union address to accuse Republicans of wanting to sunset Social Security and Medicare. … But not only is Biden arguing against a straw man here — sadly, no sitting Republicans actually are pledging to cut entitlements — but he is also forgetting that doing nothing is tantamount to a massive cut of Social Security benefits! Absent a major reform from Social Security, the program will become insolvent in a little more than a decade. … The only solution to prevent the legally mandated benefit cuts of Social Security after its insolvency is meaningful reform. Biden's demagoguery on the issue is rank dishonesty, and the Republicans playing along with his priorities are just as shameful.”

“One Small Step for Social Security” Andrew G. Biggs, Wall Street Journal Opinion: “Social Security remains the largest federal spending program. After Medicare, it’s the second-largest driver of long-term deficits. … Though vital to addressing the national debt, getting a comprehensive reform package—or any major entitlement reform—through Congress will be tough. Instead, lawmakers might consider a simple but meaningful start: capping the maximum retirement benefit. A cap would put a dent in Social Security’s 75-year funding gap of more than $20 trillion and send a message that government benefits to high-income retirees can’t be unlimited. Social Security is often described as a safety net against poverty in old age. But if every senior simply received a benefit equal to the 2022 poverty threshold—just over $14,000 for a single retiree and about $17,600 for couples—Social Security’s $1.3 trillion annual cost for 2023 would be nearly cut in half.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Joe Biden Tried Multiple Times To Cut Medicare And Social Security Christopher Jacobs, The Federalist

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Republicans Aren’t Telling the Truth About Their Spending Plans

While it wouldn’t be right to link Social Security and Medicare to debt ceiling negotiations, each program still needs major reform.
The debt limit distraction is just a backdoor way for Republicans to try and privatize Social Security, denying people benefits.
President Biden was right to call out Republicans concerning entitlements – just look at Florida Senator Rick Scott’s plan.

“Yes, Social Security and Medicare still need to be reformed — and soon” Editorial Board, Washington Post: “House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (says) … cuts to Social Security and Medicare are ‘off the table’ in negotiations over raising the debt ceiling. In so doing, he deprived Democrats of a political talking point and reduced the likelihood of national default. Raising the debt ceiling — and thereby preserving the full faith and credit of the federal government — should proceed without negotiations or strings, let alone a contentious debate about third-rail entitlement programs. Yet the discussion needs to happen sometime, and sooner rather than later. These entitlements — which already account for about a third of federal spending — remain on unsustainable trajectories, and protecting them for future generations is too important to keep reform off the table indefinitely. Medicare’s trust fund is projected to run short by 2028, and Social Security will exhaust its reserves by 2034.”

“Republicans Are Too Thirsty for Social Security Cuts” Teresa Ghilarducci, Bloomberg Opinion: “At President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Speech, congressional Republicans tried to distance themselves from plans to cut Social Security. Don’t believe it. Plenty of Republicans are determined to cut Social Security — even though 84% of Republicans and 86% of Democrats want those retirement benefits to increase. Things are already bad enough for retirees and older workers. Benefit cuts would only make them worse. Make no mistake: House Republicans want to take advantage of the debt limit vote due this spring to cut Social Security. That’s behind their proposal to create a commission to explore ways to trim Social Security costs. And last week, former Vice President Mike Pence said in a private meeting that the government should partially privatize the program — which will cut benefits for most families, including those who most rely on them.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: Republicans Are Angry at Joe Biden for Accurately Describing Plan to Sunset Social Security Jim Newell, Slate

FLAG THIS

Where Americans Stand on Social Security and Medicare

Polling indicates over half of respondents want to see Social Security and Medicare given more funding.

Along party lines, 66% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans want Social Security to receive more funding. For Medicare, 64% of Democrats would like to see it receive additional funding, compared with 47% of Republicans (YouGov).

A separate survey found little support for cuts to Social Security and Medicare: Democrats gave that a -61 net favorability rating, while for Republicans it checked in at -42 (YouGov/Economist).

Would you find it acceptable if spending cuts included Medicare and Social Security?

FLAG FINDS

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WATERCOOLER

USS Maine Sunk, No GPS Sailing Race, Origins of the Grapefruit

USS Maine (ACR-1) starboard bow view. Photographed by J.S. Johnston, 1898. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. (2016/05/19).

On this day in 1898: A massive explosion of unknown origin sinks the battleship USS Maine in Cuba’s Havana harbor, killing 260 of the fewer than 400 American crew members aboard.

NPR: This race is a nonstop sail around the world. Cassette tapes are allowed, but no GPS

The Atlantic: How a Guy From a Montana Trailer Park Overturned 150 Years of Biology

Atlas Obscura: The Secret History of the Love Tester

Today I Learned grapefruits were invented in 1693. A man named Captain Shaddock shipped pomelo seeds to the West Indies, then planted them next to orange trees. After some cross-pollination, the grapefruit was born.

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