Dems Slam Renewed GOP Effort to Create a Social Security ‘Crisis’
Democrats slammed the House GOP for targeting Social Security in its new budget resolution unveiled Tuesday, contending that the move is part of an emerging Republican strategy to create a crisis atmosphere and set the stage for dramatic changes in how the program works. Though the budget was mostly similar to previous years’ budgets, one major new item was a provision to prohibit a traditionally routine transfer of funds from the Social Security retirement fund (which is solvent through 2033) to the Social Security Disability Insurance fund, which has long been projected to become insolvent in 2016….
Notably, the GOP budget, authored by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), did not endorse any immediate changes to Social Security, a crown jewel of liberalism. It did warn of “looming insolvency” and proposed a “bipartisan commission” to offer reforms to keep it solvent in the long term. “In short,” the budget says, “there should be no raiding of the Social Security retirement program to bailout another, currently unsustainable program. Truly what’s needed is a long-term solution to the problems facing Social Security.” “It’s a manufactured crisis,” Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), the other co-chair of the progressive caucus, told TPM. “Past practice has been that the trust took care of that as a shift and a pay-for.” Read More…