During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech, he got booed after accusing “some” Republicans of seeking to “sunset” some of the so-called entitlements[SP1]. Biden said: “Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans … want Medicare and Social Security to sunset. … Anybody who doubts it, contact my office. I’ll give you a copy. I’ll give you a copy of the proposal.”
It is certainly true that President George W. Bush set up a bipartisan commission to address the long-term problem with Social Security solvency. Their 2002 report proposed allowing workers to devote a portion of their Social Security contribution to a private account to invest, for example, in the stock market for a better rate of return. The report concluded: “Social Security will be strengthened if modernized to include a system of voluntary personal accounts. Personal accounts improve retirement security by facilitating wealth creation and providing participants with assets that they own and that can be inherited, rather than providing only claims to benefits that remain subject to political negotiation.” It is also true that Bush abandoned the plan after Democrats denounced it as a “risky” scheme to “privatize Social Security.”
But it is equally true that both Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton called Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security — without reforms — “unsustainable.” As for Biden, as senator in 1975, he proposed reexamining every federal program. In a floor speech, he said, “One thing that we must do is to begin reviewing existing programs to determine whether they are still effective and whether they are worth the money that we are putting in them. We must eliminate the wasteful ones.” Awkward.
Obama set up a bipartisan “federal deficit commission” that made several recommendations. About its final report, ABC News wrote: “The president had tasked commission co-chairmen Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson with devising a plan to reduce the deficits and redirect the country from its ‘unsustainable’ fiscal path… To dig the country out of debt, the plan put forth by the panel today calls for drastic changes such as raising the Social Security retirement age, making cuts to Medicare and doubling the federal gas tax. It made only minor changes to the earlier draft released by Bowles and Simpson last month.”
As for Clinton, he too set a bipartisan commission to tackle the entitlements problem. The federal government’s Social Security website states: “On November 5th 1993 President Bill Clinton — by Executive Order #12878 — created the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement Reform. The Commission — which began work in February 1994 — was co-chaired by Senators Robert Kerrey (D-NB) and John Danforth (R-MO[SP2]). The Commission was comprised of ten U.S. Senators, ten members of Congress, and twelve members of the public, along with a professional staff of 27.
“In their approach, the Commission went well beyond the topics of Social Security and Medicare and lumped together everything that might be considered an ‘entitlement’ — from welfare programs to the home mortgage interest tax deduction to the cost of federal civilian and military retirement. Its goal was to devise a package of proposals which would reduce the overall cost of all of these programs. …
“The two co-chairs of the Commission developed their own Social Security proposal, which featured raising the retirement age to 70, a cut in the Social Security payroll tax, with the money redirected into mandatory private accounts, and adopting price-indexing (among other changes). This was perhaps the first advocacy of ‘carve-out’ private accounts, and of price indexing, by a prominent mainstream group.”
Were those Democratic presidents, both of whom established commissions on entitlements, seeking — to use Biden’s characterization — to “sunset” these programs?
The federal budget devotes about half of its spending to the “entitlement” programs: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare. Then there is income security, which includes general retirement and disability insurance; federal employee retirement, disability and military retirement; unemployment compensation; housing assistance; nutrition assistance; foster care; Supplemental Security Income; and the earned income and child tax credits. Throw in national security and interest on the debt and there’s almost nothing left. Both Republican and Democrat presidents concede that without reforms these programs are “unsustainable,” yet members of both parties attack reform as “risky” and “irresponsible.”
Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking.
I nominate Joe Biden for another Pinocchio do I have a 2nd Vote?
You have another vote from anyone in the past 50 years who had to listen to his bullshit for five minutes.
(The truck driver who was slandered as having “drank his lunch” especially would’ve 2nd your motion.)
A pilot program was set up in Galveston, TX along with four adjacent counties to privatize Social Security.
It yields much more benefits, can be passed on to one’s children, and most importantly, is SOLVENT. Hence, even though one has the option to opt for the public version, not one person has. (Unfortunately, the experimental version is only for government employees.)
When Bush43 made his lackluster attempt to fix Social Security, he was timid. He offered a paltry 2% cut out for privatization.
He lacked the energy to fight for saving it, so he quickly tired of the winning concept also employed by those “socialized” Scandinavian countries – their retirement system is privatized & also solvent.
Cosseted government fools like corrupt Lois Lerner & the unaccomplished Fauci have public pensions that us unwashed masses could only dream of.
Hence, they could care less, and in fact, jealousy guard keeping the current decaying system in place.
By the way; Bush also lacked the courage to secure our borders – even prosecuting two honorable border cops for shooting a drug dealer in the ass for trying to run ’em over. (Officers Ramos & Compeon.) The message being – Don’t interfere, or else!
Bush was committed to open borders, as it was easy to accomplish. Fixing S.S. however, required effort, so he dropped it.
This is pire demagogery-without a supply of young people paying into the system, the system will go bankrupt
Biden in 1995: ‘When I Argued That We Should Freeze Federal Spending, I Meant Social Security as Well. I Meant Medicare and Medicaid’
(CNSNews.com) – President Joe Biden has been accusing Republicans of trying to cut Social Security and Medicare, but it was Biden who proposed that very thing back in 1995 when he was a senator debating the Balanced Budget Amendment.
9 Most Ridiculous Claims Biden Made During State of the Union Address
4. Republicans Want To Get Rid of Social Security
“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share,” Biden said, “some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset.”
The president was referring to an ongoing debt ceiling fight with Republican lawmakers, in which the Republican Party has floated various spending cuts to avoid a default. But House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has said that cuts to both Medicare and Social Security are “off the table.” Many Republicans also stood and applauded when Biden pledged to not cut either program.
If Biden made a statement that even BORDERED on truth or reality, the democrat-MSM would bury it. That hasn’t been necessary to this point.
Just a reminder that when President Reagan formed a commission to study the funding of the Social Security program in the 1880s. The recommendations were to increase the S.S. tax rate and to apply it to higher wage levels. At first, it did create a big surplus in funding, but over the last few years it has decline quite a bit.
The big question is how our wonderful Congress going to solve the problem?
I know, I know. When older people turn 65, they will be turn into green crackers like in the science fiction movie Soylent Green. This way Social Security will not be necessary anymore. On top of that, the younger people will not have to eat bugs like Bill Gates wants them to. Remember what the WEF said, “You will own nothing, but you will be happy.”
I thought a little humor was in order for the day. Don’t worry this will not happen because there are too many old people in Congress. I don’t think they would taste very good.