What Does Social Security Have to do with the House Speaker Fight? - AMAC & The Hill
Alex Gangitano, writing in The Hill, alludes to the fact that GOP Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), a leading contender to be House Speaker, supports setting up a bipartisan commission to address the national debt, including looking at the Social Security and Medicare programs. Both entitlement programs face insolvency within the next 7-10 years, yet the author notes The Biden White House has chosen to demagogue and go hard and fast at Republicans for suggesting necessary changes to these financially imperiled programs. Gangitano cited a White House memo that said, “Cutting Social Security and Medicare is a priority that House Republicans will let outlive their leadership.” Full piece here.
As an example of the leading thoughts on reforming Social Security, the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC, Inc.) believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized. This can be achieved without tax increases by slight modifications to cost of living adjustments and payments to high income beneficiaries plus gradually increasing the full (but not early) retirement age. AMAC Action, AMAC’s advocacy arm, supports an increase in the threshold where benefits are taxed and then indexing for inflation, and calls for eliminating the reduction in people’s benefits for those choosing to work before full retirement age. AMAC is resolute in its mission that Social Security be preserved for current and successive generations and has gotten the attention of lawmakers in D.C., meeting with many congressional offices and staff over the past decade.