Joe Biden Shamelessly Tells Voters What Republicans Promise To Do To Social Security!

WHY SO SHAMELESS?

Joe Biden took to the Twitters Saturday with a little reminder for voters: If you vote for Republicans today, you're voting for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and you're also voting for a party that's quite willing to crash the economy to get those cuts.

“Republican leaders are saying that if I don't help them cut Social Security and Medicare then guess what? They will wreak havoc on our economy and refuse to raise the debt ceiling. I'm not joking. As my grandkids would say, “Google it.””

— President Biden (@President Biden) 1667689200 

Twote the president,

Republican leaders are saying that if I don't help them cut Social Security and Medicare then guess what?

They will wreak havoc on our economy and refuse to raise the debt ceiling. I'm not joking.

As my grandkids would say, “Google it.”

So what the hell, we Googled it — or at least we Googled "republicans debt ceiling social security" — and found that yes indeedy, Joe Biden is right: Republicans are talking about using the next fight over the debt ceiling to demand spending cuts if they win control of the House of Representatives:

This is probably where the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler will pop in and say "well sure, several say they would do that, but it's not an official plan by my definition of "plan," and also some Republicans are trying to walk it back — albeit not very successfully."

READ MORE: WaPo Fact Checker Shocked, SHOCKED That Anyone Would Say GOP Wants To Kill Medicare! 

 Government Shutdown Season Is Different From Debt Ceiling Season: A Handy Wonkette Guide 

Why Do Republicans Want To Wreck The Economy THIS Time?

So here's the dealio: Republicans are all Big Mad that Joe Biden and Democrats passed any bills at all, and they intend to have a fight over raising the debt ceiling, which has to be increased from time to time because of a dumb law that originated during World War I, yes really. Increasing the debt ceiling allows the US to borrow so it can make payments on all its debts, for spending it's already done, like every defense bill going back years. Republicans like to lie about it a lot whenever a Democrat is president, pretending that not raising the debt limit would prevent future spending and waste. In reality, not raising the ceiling would put the US in default on its debts, which would wreck our bond ratings and plunge the world into a depression — and we'd still owe every penny of debt.

Short version: Republicans in one house or the other ALWAYS decide to threaten to crash the economy if they don't get some shiny object they want — at least when a Democrat is president.

And Biden is right: Republicans do indeed want to use negotiations over the debt ceiling to force big spending cuts, which could very well include cuts to Medicare and Social Security. Let's look at what we googled (some is in the image above, more was further down the page).

As outlined in the Bloomberg Government story you see up there from October 11, several of the Republicans who would like to chair the House Budget Committee said in interviews that they want to use negotiations over the Debt Ceiling to force spending cuts for nearly everything but the military and tax benefits for rich people. They hope to make changes to "entitlement" programs, which is the term they use when they want to hide the fact they want to take an axe to Medicare and Social Security. (Technically, an "entitlement" is any program that's funded based on how many people qualify for the benefit, without Congress passing an annual authorization for it, which is so-called "discretionary" spending. Republicans like talking about cutting "entitlement" spending, because who are those greedy people insisting they get benefits they paid into for years?)

One of the wannabe Budget Committee chiefs, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Georgia), was fairly open about what Republicans want, telling Bloomberg, "Our main focus has got to be on nondiscretionary — it’s got to be on entitlements." After all, Social Security is in crisis. (Its trust fund guarantees full benefits through 2035, after which only 80 percent benefits would be paid.) Raising taxes on the most wealthy Americans is clearly impossible, so Carter thinks maybe the retirement age could be raised. Other House Republicans would like to see benefits be means-tested, so seniors with more wealth could have their benefits cut.

And yes, some of these plans are already in writing, as Bloomberg notes:  

The Republican Study Committee, the largest group of House Republicans, released a budget plan in June that called on lawmakers to graduallyraise the Medicare age of eligibility to 67 and the Social Security eligibility to 70before indexing both to life expectancy. It backed withholding payments to those who retired early and had earnings over a certain limit. And it endorsed the consideration of options to reduce payroll taxes that fund Social Security and redirect them to private alternatives. It also urged lawmakers to “phase-in an increase in means testing” for Medicare. [ emphasis added — Dok Zoom ]

So yes, that is very much a plan for Medicare and Social Security cuts.

There's also this October 18 Washington Post story in which House Minority Leader (may he stay ever thus, amen) Kevin McCarthy says that if the GOP takes the House, you bet the debt limit will be a chance to demand big spending cuts, complete with the usual blather about forcing Democrats to stop reckless spending (again, the debt ceiling isn't about future spending). McCarthy said in an October interview with Punchbowl News, 

You can’t just continue down the path to keep spending and adding to the debt. [...] We’re not just going to keep lifting your credit card limit, right?" [...]

Pressed on whether changes to the entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security were part of the debt ceiling discussions, McCarthy said he would not “predetermine” anything.

So not quite a plan to cut Medicare and Social Security, but very much not a pledge to not cut them.

But wait! There's that Fox News story where Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) supposedly "torpedoed" any notion of touching Social Security and Medicare, although he hasn't actually done any such thing, since you can't sink a proposal that's still in the planning stage. And once you get past the headline, the story admits that yes indeed, the idea is still operative even if Hawley says it's a bad idea.

Fox basically summarizes a recent Politico story in which Hawley is much more explicitly framed as being out of line with his GOP colleagues. The piece notes that Hawley hopes Blake Masters and JD Vance can join him in the Senate to stir shit up:

And that means cutting against the party on proposals like using the debt limit to push for changes to Social Security and Medicare.

“That’s dumb,” Hawley said. “We need to do everything we can to keep them solvent for sure. But the idea of fiddling around with them and using those as leverage? I hope nobody’s seriously proposing that.”

That's not a torpedo, that's an "I wouldn't do that." Even the Fox story concedes that

In fact, several GOP lawmakers vying for leadership positions on influential committees told Fox News last month that is exactly what they would like to do.

House Republicans said in October, the upcoming debt limit fight – a vote to increase the amount of money Congress may borrow to cover its expenses – presents an opportunity to force Democrats to negotiate on reforms to Social Security and Medicare.

So thanks for confirming the president's tweet, there, Fox News.

Also too, here's a far better idea: Instead of slashing Social Security and Medicare to save them, why not ensure that their trust funds are adequately funded instead? As we've noted previously, legislation introduced by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) would increase Social Security benefits by $200 a month and extend the programs' solvency by 75 years, by applying payroll taxes to sources of income mostly received by the very wealthy — like capital gains — that currently aren't subject to Social Security taxes.

Oh, dear, that would make billionaires sad, we can't even talk about that.

[ Joe Biden on Twitter / Bloomberg / WaPo / Fox News / Politico / Photo:  Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons license 2.0 ]

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