Republicans started working
immediately against the best interests of the American people by declaring war
on Social Security on the very first day of the 114th Congress.
Soon after the GOP officially took
full control of the legislative branch on Tuesday, Republicans approved a new
rule that experts say will allow conservatives to use Social Security as a
hostage in future budget battles.
According to Talking Points Memo:
“The largely overlooked change puts a new restriction on the routine transfer of tax revenues between the traditional Social Security retirement trust fund and the Social Security disability program. The transfers, known as reallocation, had historically been routine…”
In short, Republicans are hoping to
strangle the Social Security Disability Insurance program to death as part of a
concerted effort to hurt Social Security while forcing Democrats to agree to
cut benefits.
TPM reports that the rule:
“…would still allow for a reallocation from the retirement fund to shore up the disability fund — but only if an accompanying proposal ‘improves the overall financial health of the combined Social Security Trust Funds,’ per the rule, expected to be passed on Tuesday. While that language is vague, experts say it would likely mean any reallocation would have to be balanced by new revenues or benefit cuts.”
Seeing as how Republicans loathe
taxes, it’s unlikely they would agree to balance reallocations through
revenues, which means they would slash benefits instead.
The current SSDI fund is estimated
to dry up by 2016 if another reallocation of funds doesn’t take place before
then. But the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities says the fix
would be easy.
The Social Security retirement fund
contains $672 billion. The SSDI program contains $140 billion. The CBPP pointed
out that a transfer of funds from the former would keep both solvent through
2033.
In other words, the new GOP rule is
totally unnecessary unless they want to attack Social Security and use it as
leverage to force Democrats to agree to all Republican demands.
As the CBPP further noted:
“By barring the House from approving a ‘clean’ reallocation in 2016, the rule will strengthen the hand of lawmakers who seek to attach harsh conditions (such as sharp cuts in eligibility or benefit amounts) to such a measure.”
The hostile move against Social
Security outraged Democrats, but no one blasted the GOP like Senator Elizabeth
Warren did on her Facebook page.
“It’s ridiculous – but not surprising – that on the very first day of the new Congress, Republicans are manufacturing a Social Security crisis to threaten benefits for millions of disabled Americans – including 233,260 in Massachusetts alone. We can’t turn our backs on the promises we’ve made to our families, friends, and neighbors who need our help the most. House Republicans should stop playing political games to put America’s most vulnerable at risk.”
Clearly, Republicans are hell bent
on destroying the programs that have made America strong since the 1930s.
Every single social program that
helps prevent Americans from ending up in poverty is now threatened by the GOP.
A simple transfer that has occurred many times in the past is all that is
needed to fix the problem, or better yet, just pass a law applying the payroll
tax to all income over $100,000. Then Social Security and SSDI would be
infinitely solvent.
But Republicans would rather hold
the program hostage because even if Democrats refuse to give in to Republican
demands the GOP would still win because SSDI would have no more funds left,
thus depriving Americans who have disabilities of the funding they need for
their own care. And you can bet that once Republicans kill this program,
they’ll set their sights on killing Social Security entirely.