RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel attacked Democratic concerns that Republicans plan to cut Social Security and Medicare as “scare tactics” but she didn’t deny that that’s exactly what they plan to do.
During her appearance on Fox News Sunday, anchor Shannon Bream played a clip of former President Barack Obama “echoing a line that that we hear from the current president a lot, that Republicans are actually going to go after entitlements.”
Bream didn’t mention that Republicans have said they plan to cut Social Security and Medicare – and hold the U.S. economy hostage to do it.
Bream played a great clip of Obama blasting Republican Sen. Ron Johnson for threatening Social Security (but she did not tell viewers that Johnson wants to eliminate the automatic funding of Social Security and Medicare and subject them to yearly funding by Congress, nor that he would love to privatize Social Security).
Then Bream framed the issue as a matter of political debate.
BREAM: And that is something that resonates with voters. I’m sure you hear it. I hear it, too, about people considering their vote. They’re very worried about entitlements. It’s something that the White House, Democrats all the way down the ticket continue to talk about and they say they’re pointing to your proposals, to GOP documents to back up that claim. What do you say to voters?
McDaniel suggested that’s not the case but she didn’t say so. Then she quickly pivoted to generic Republican midterm messaging.
MCDANIEL: I say that’s scare tactics and I’d say people on fixed incomes right now are dealing with a huge issue with inflation, Biden-flation, which has been caused by Democrats pumping so much money into this economy and abandoning our energy independence, which has cost so much or caused prices to rise across the board and seniors, who are on fixed incomes right now, they are hurting. They are hurting because of Democrat policies. I run into people all the time, they say “I cannot afford my groceries, my drug, my medicine, that I need, to put gas in my car and that is because of what Democrats have done and they own it. They’re running away from it and the voters are so smart, they’re going to hold them accountable for this economy which is a failing economy.
Which just goes to show how duplicitous Ronna “Please forget I’m Mitt Romney’s niece” McDaniel is. While she feigns concern for seniors on fixed incomes, her party is plotting to reduce their incomes and benefits or, at the very least, make them less certain.
And Bream let her get away with it. She did not point out Republicans have been public with their plans to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block nor did she press McDaniel to say what she thinks Republican plans are.
Instead, Bream changed the subject to ask McDaniel to “make the argument” that, if Republicans “have great success” in the midterms, “that you guys are actually the party that can get something done,” given that President Biden will have veto power.
McDaniel’s response? Suggesting they'll make cuts to spending. “We do hold the power of the purse in the House,” she said.
Bream let her go on another tear against Democrats, without interruption.
You can watch McDaniel try to hide the GOP plan to cut Social Security and Medicare, the same way she tries to hide her Romney name, below, from the October 30, 2022 Fox News Sunday.
The fact that these important programs might be on the chopping block is a cause for concern, and the public deserves clarity and transparency regarding such matters. Playing down these concerns as “scare tactics” only adds to the frustration of voters who rely on these safety nets.
Transparency is crucial in any democracy, and it’s disappointing when political discourse veers away from providing clear answers. Voters have the right to know what policies their elected officials are pursuing, particularly when it affects their well-being and financial security.
Let’s hope for more candid discussions in the future, where politicians on both sides can openly address their positions and plans regarding these vital programs. This is essential to making informed decisions during elections and ensuring that the needs of the people, especially seniors and those on fixed incomes, are safeguarded.
https://www.youremployerofrecord.com/
So far as the GOP are concerned, the elderly should keep on working til they are no longer productive and then they should just hurry up and die. That goes for the disabled as well. I don’t recall if it was Bokassa or Idi Amin who decided to throw the disabled off a cliff, literally, because they were dead weight. That’s precisely what the GOP seem to think.
They are following the Heritage Foundation plan from 2010, which is easily found online and has only been made stricter since the time that original paper was published.
The plan is to reduce Social Security to a flat rate of about $1200 per month, and to strictly means-test it so that seniors who receive decent pensions or have decent savings will be cut off. The original Heritage Foundation plan said this would only apply to people born in 1985 or later (meaning it was only for people who were 25 or younger at the time they presented it). The new plan goes into effect for anyone born in 1968 or later – meaning that people who are 54 years old today would be told they only qualify for a greatly reduced benefit, if they are not cut off entirely. This would mean that Middle Class Employees who paid FICA for the past 35 years would be told that they’re out of luck, and that would be within about 10 years of when most of them will want to retire. This is not accidental – the GOP Tax Transfer of 2017 was similarly a frontal attack on Middle Class Employees, particularly those living and working in Blue States. The GOP is well aware of what they’re doing here.
The Heritage Foundation today estimates that the revised GOP version of their drastic cutting plan would result in savings of over 640 billion dollars over the next several years. Which is understandable, since that’s the amount that would no longer be paid to retirees who paid into the system for decades.
As for Medicare, the GOP intention is to replace it with a tiny voucher program that would do little for anyone not living in poverty. Frankly, the entire GOP approach here would be to reduce Social Security and Medicare to welfare programs for the indigent elderly. Which would make the programs much easier to eliminate altogether, since they would no longer be any benefit to anyone else. And that’s the ultimate intention here. The GOP is following the same patient playbook they did in tossing Roe v Wade in the trash can. They’ve never wanted these programs to exist in the first place, and they were willing to take the long approach to getting them tossed. So with this move, they’ll reduce the programs to something that doesn’t help most people and thus is vulnerable to being scrapped. And then, ten years later, they can deliver the final blow and toss them entirely.
We should remember that there are much simpler ways to deal with Social Security funding – a lift on the cap on income that applies, an inclusion of governmental employees who qualify as part of the funding, a mild increase in retirement age for taxpayers under 30 years old, and a tiny increase in the employer side of payroll taxes. These steps could and should have been taken 20 years ago, but angry Right Wingers refused to allow it. Now those same angry Right Wingers make noises that the programs they starved of funds are going to have financial issues soon. In scientific terms, we call this a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If anyone truly thinks that the GOP will not work to eliminate these programs that Right Wingers have long hated, I advise that person to look no further than the Supreme Court. Angry Right Wingers are telling us exactly what they intend to do here. I strongly suggest that people pay attention and take them at their word.