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Politics
As Mike Johnson Floats Social Security Cuts, Trustees Report Shows Harm of Trump Policies
“MAGA Mike Johnson won’t show the American people his secret plan to eliminate Social Security because he knows Republican policies are wildly unpopular."
Jun 09, 2026
Social Security's trustees said in their annual report released Tuesday that the New Deal program will be unable to pay out full benefits by the end of 2032—a quarter earlier than projected last year—in the absence of congressional action, a finding that advocates said underscores the destructive impact of President Donald Trump's policy agenda and the need to make the rich finally pay their fair share into the system.
“This is the first Social Security trustees report that begins to take Donald Trump’s second term policies into account: A tax bill that largely benefited the wealthy, economy-wrecking tariffs, a needless war with Iran, and hostility to immigrants," said Nancy Altman, the president of Social Security Works. "All of these have reduced the amount of money going into Social Security, weakening the system’s finances."
The trustees report was released a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declared in a radio show appearance that "entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and things like Social Security" need to be "adjusted and fixed," which critics say is euphemistic language for benefit cuts, given past GOP proposals such as raising the retirement age.
Johnson said the GOP intends to release a new Social Security plan "next year," without providing any details.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), House Democrats' campaign arm, immediately pressed Johnson, suggesting he's delaying Republican plans for Social Security and Medicare until after the 2026 midterms to avoid consequences at the ballot box.
“MAGA Mike Johnson won’t show the American people his secret plan to eliminate Social Security because he knows Republican policies are wildly unpopular and will be resoundingly rejected by the American people in November," said Justin Chermol, a DCCC spokesperson.
The new trustees report projects that Social Security's Old-Age and Survivors Insurance will be able to pay out full benefits "until the fourth quarter of 2032, one quarter earlier than projected last year."
"At that time, the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing program income will be sufficient to pay 78% of total scheduled benefits," the trustees said.
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), stressed that the new projection "does not mean that Social Security is going ‘bankrupt’ or ‘broke.’"
"Nor does the trustees report mean that benefits must be cut to maintain the program’s fiscal health," said Richtman. "It would be grossly unfair to ask beneficiaries on fixed incomes to bear the cost of strengthening Social Security. While conservatives favor benefit cuts (such as raising the retirement age, means testing, or reduced COLAs), we advocate for revenue-side solutions where the wealthy pay their fair share."
Specifically, NCPSSM and other progressive advocacy groups and lawmakers have called for raising the Social Security's payroll tax cap, which currently exempts annual income above $184,500 from the program's dedicated payroll levy.
Richtman said that lifting the payroll tax cap and "subjecting some of high earners’ investment income to Social Security taxes" would keep the program solvent "well beyond the 2030s." He noted that Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation to shore up Social Security's finances by taxing the rich, but the bills have gone nowhere in the Republican-controlled Congress.
In a joint statement issued in response to the trustees report, Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.), Richard Neal (D-Mass.), and Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) said that "instead of joining Democrats to protect and enhance" Medicare and Social Security, "Donald Trump and Republicans are busy sabotaging them."
"After DOGE took a wrecking ball to the Social Security Administration under false pretenses, all Americans got were slashed customer service and their most personal data put at risk—without a penny saved," the Democrats said. "Combined with their sole legislative achievement pricing millions out of coverage and putting Medicare on the chopping block, there is no greater threat to Americans’ wellbeing than Republican governance."
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Calling Attacks on Platner ‘Politics as Usual’, Mainers Say They Have Back of Working-Class Champion
“We’re going to win on Tuesday, and we’re going to win in November, and we’re going to take power back for the people in this country," said the US Senate candidate from Maine.
Jun 08, 2026
At Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner's final town hall ahead of Tuesday's primary election in Maine, the combat veteran and oyster farmer received a warm welcome from roughly 400 attendees who appeared eager to focus on the candidate's policy platform and issues affecting working Mainers rather than numerous attacks that have been launched against him in recent months.
Platner walked into a meeting room at an Elks Lodge in Portland, Maine's largest city, to a standing ovation and said, as he had at a rally on Friday with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) in Bar Harbor, that Mainers have shown they "have my back."
“We’re going to win on Tuesday, and we’re going to win in November, and we’re going to take power back for the people in this country," he told the crowd.
After speaking for close to an hour about issues including economic inequality, his goal of being "a voice that says no to war" in the US Senate, and his push for Medicare for All, Platner opened the floor for questions that focused on repealing Citizens United, his plan to pass a billionaire wealth tax, and the lawmakers and Senate committees the political newcomer has begun building relationships with as he aims to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
He named Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) as a lawmaker he has little in common with ideologically but with whom he shares a goal of ending "forever wars," and listed Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as some of the other senators he hopes to work with closely.
One woman stood up to note that some in the national corporate media have appeared certain in recent days that they "know" the voters of Maine and that they are likely to turn against Platner following news stories about his past marital struggles, former relationships, comments he made online years ago, and a tattoo he got while in the Marines.
"What do people not understand about Mainers?" the voter asked.
Platner answered that he's had conversations about economic inequality with people across the state—including at more than 80 town halls—and said that those focused on the controversies don't understand "how clear-eyed" and "how frustrated" Maine voters are with the political status quo.
“I think a lot of folks at the national level misunderstand,” he said at one point. “The reason they keep getting everything wrong is they think this is a race about me, but it isn’t. This is a race about us. This is a race about the future of politics in Maine."
One voter, Kurt Fedora of Buxton, told The Associated Press that he views the controversies that the national media has focused on in recent months as a smear campaign.
"They’re really reaching far to try to pin something on him. And it’s politics as usual,” Fedora told the outlet.
As Common Dreams noted Sunday, The New York Times' reporting last week on allegations that Platner was physically aggressive in past relationships—which he denied—has not appeared to make a dent in his campaign's fundraising. As he rallied with Khanna the day after the report came out, the campaign announced it had raised over $200,000 that day—"more money than on any day" since Gov. Janet Mills suspended her campaign in April.
Similarly, when earlier stories broke about his tattoo and Reddit posts, Platner only widened his lead over Mills in primary polls.
One attendee named Paul told Common Dreams that at the Sunday town hall, Platner had "described a system that needs to be changed," and that the same system "is out to destroy him in any way they can" by publishing stories like one that focused on Platner's text messages with women early in his marriage.
"There was no way I could care less about that," he said. "I always like to say, it's between him and his wife."
Another supporter, Claudia, added that ahead of Tuesday's primary election, she is "looking at the bigger picture."
"This country is in a really dangerous state. I mean, it's terrifying every day," she told Common Dreams. "You want more Susan Collins? I don't think so."
"I really appreciated the fact that he knows that he needs to have people with whom he has a relationship in Washington and with whom he can work," she added, turning her attention to the substance of Platner's remarks. "I feel like he's done a really good job of not only appreciating what so many of the issues are, but how he can engage with people down there [in DC]."
Platner emphasized that the Democratic Party has tried to unseat Collins numerous times since she took office in 1997, most recently with moderate state lawmaker Sara Gideon in 2020. Mills spoke affectionately about Collins last September, a month before she jumped into the race, saying she appreciates "everything she is doing" during President Donald Trump's second term.
Collins has long cast herself as a "moderate" and a defender of women's rights in particular, despite the fact that she has voted to confirm more than a dozen anti-choice judges in Trump's second administration alone.
“We are going to beat someone that the establishment of the Democratic Party has failed to unseat for 30 years,” Platner said. “We are going to beat someone who, for years, has tried to trick us all into thinking that she’s a moderate.”
While focusing their attention on Platner's policy platform, some in the crowd at the town hall suggested they were eager to rally for the candidate partially because of the recent attacks on his character. One attendee, Laurie Hudson, passed around a card she had made that read, "We are your Graham-ily and we've got your back," asking others in the audience to sign. She presented it to Platner after his opening remarks.
Platner urged attendees to get involved not only in his campaign's get-out-the-vote efforts in the final days of the primary campaign—by "going out into our communities and having hard conversations"—but in a larger movement powered by the working class, aimed at beating back Trump's agenda and the corporations and dark money groups that helped pave his way to the White House by pouring billions of dollars into elections.
"Throughout history, the only thing that's ever beaten fascism is a broad-based working-class coalition," said Platner. "This is a race about building power the old-fashioned way, from the ground up... Join a labor union, go help out at the local food pantry, go help out at a food bank, but you've got to do something. Because the moment we're in right now, it's going to require all of us.
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Trump Renews Call for Firing Senate Parliamentarian to Pass GOP Attack on Voting Rights
Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated that he would not fire the parliamentarian after the president's angry tirade.
Jun 08, 2026
President Donald Trump on Monday renewed calls to fire US Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who in recent months has thwarted Republicans' efforts to include funding for his luxury ballroom and voter suppression legislation into a budget reconciliation package.
In a social media post, the president demanded Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) dismiss MacDonough, whom he described as "a nasty holdover" from former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) who "treats Republicans, and everything that they stand for, horribly!"
"She is known as a Radical Left Lunatic that caters to Democrats," Trump continued, "and has no respect for Republicans, or Republican Ideology... We have every right to change her, and should do so, IMMEDIATELY. As long as she’s there, we will never get our desperately needed, SAVE AMERICA ACT, approved, and put into full force and effect!"
Despite Trump's demands, there is little indication that Thune has any desire to fire the parliamentarian. As reported by Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio, the GOP Senate leader expressed appreciation for the work MacDonough has done since she took on the job in 2012.
"Parliamentarian rulings break both ways," Thune said. "You lose a few, you win a few. That's been true when the Democrats have been in the majority too. That’s a hard job. It’s a very specific skill set. And you need somebody that is going to be a fair referee."
Commenting on the president's post, Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman noted that the president has much larger problems in the Senate than MacDonough, as Republicans themselves "disagree with parts of his agenda."
Sherman also hinted that Trump has caused further problems for himself in recent weeks, as his nomination of Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte to be his acting director of national intelligence has completely blown up a bipartisan plan to extend warrantless spying powers under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Trump has created headaches for Republicans by not only asking them to fund security for his ballroom, but also creating and defending a $1.8 billion slush fund aimed at paying off political allies who were supposedly victims of a "weaponized" Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden.
The Trump administration last week agreed to at least temporarily shut down the fund, which drew widespread political pushback after administration officials acknowledged it could be used to pay off rioters who stormed the US Capitol on the president's behalf on January 6, 2021.
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'Schumer Is Far Out of Touch': 80% of New York Democrats Oppose US Weapons Transfers to Israel
“If current party leadership is unwilling to represent their own voters and the majority of Americans, then it is time for new leadership."
Jun 08, 2026
A poll released Monday shows that around 80% of Democratic voters in New York oppose US weapons transfers to Israel, putting Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer—a stalwart supporter of Israel—way out of step with his voter base.
The survey, conducted by Data for Progress and published by the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, found that 82% of New York Democrats—and 60% of the state's voters overall—believe the US "should restrict taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel until it stops attacking civilians in Gaza." The poll also found that 76% of Democratic voters in the state would favor the US Senate voting to halt the transfer of US bombs to Israel, which has repeatedly used American weaponry to commit grave war crimes.
The poll was conducted roughly a month after Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) broke with the overwhelming majority of their Democratic colleagues in voting against two resolutions aimed at blocking Trump administration sales of 1,000-pound bombs and bulldozers to the Israeli government.
The resolutions were spearheaded by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who polled more favorably than Schumer among New York voters overall—as did New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who has been floated as a possible primary challenger to Schumer in 2028.
"New York State voters, especially Democrats, aren’t being represented by their senators," the IMEU Policy Project wrote on social media, adding that "Schumer is far out of touch with New York voters on funding Israel."
A majority of New York voters (51%), and 70% of Democrats, believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to the new poll, a position that Schumer has rejected—putting him in conflict with both his own constituents and leading Holocaust scholars and human rights organizations.
“When Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand voted against blocking the bombs and bulldozers Israel is using to destroy Palestinian and Lebanese homes, they were not just voting against the vast majority of their own Senate caucus and Democratic voters, but they were voting against the majority of New Yorkers they’re elected to represent,” Margaret DeReus, the IMEU Policy Project's executive director, said in a statement. “If current party leadership is unwilling to represent their own voters and the majority of Americans, then it is time for new leadership."
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