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debt commission
Coalition Warns Against 'Fiscal Commission' That Would Fast-Track Social Security Cuts
"The only reason to create a fast-track, closed-door commission is to overthrow the will of the American people by cutting their hard-earned benefits," said Social Security Works president Nancy Altman.
Nov 08, 2023
More than 100 organizations, including the largest federation of labor unions in the United States, released a joint letter to members of Congress on Wednesday opposing Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson's push for a "fiscal commission" that opponents warn would fast-track cuts to Social Security.
"The White House has accurately described such a commission as a 'death panel' for Social Security," reads the new letter, which was signed by Social Security Works, the AFL-CIO, the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Teachers, and dozens of other groups.
"It is imperative to understand that Social Security does not add a penny to the federal debt," the letter continues. "It has its own dedicated revenue, cannot spend a penny unless it has sufficient dedicated revenue to cover the cost of all benefits and associated administrative costs, and has no borrowing authority."
"Congress should not abdicate its responsibility to make hard choices through regular order by hiding behind a fiscal commission," the letter adds. "Congress already has a process to confront the federal debt. That process is known as reconciliation. Revealingly, Social Security cuts are excluded from the reconciliation procedure, because, as previously stated, the program is totally self-funded, cannot pay benefits or associated costs without the revenue to cover the costs, has no borrowing authority, and, therefore, does not add a penny to the deficit."
The letter was released days after Johnson (La.)—who previously helped craft budget proposals calling for trillions of dollars in cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—pitched the idea of a bipartisan, bicameral fiscal commission to Senate Republicans. According to Johnson, his proposal "was met with great enthusiasm."
Rank-and-file House Republicans have also shown an interest in establishing a commission to propose changes to mandatory spending programs such as Social Security. Last month, the GOP-controlled House Budget Committee held a hearing titled, "Sounding the Alarm: Examining the Need for a Fiscal Commission." In late September, House Republicans approved a continuing resolution that proposed forming such a commission.
The
Koch-tied group FreedomWorks and other right-wing organizations have joined the call for a bipartisan fiscal commission, which is far from an original idea.
In 2021, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in introducing the TRUST Act, a bill that would establish bipartisan panels with mandates to produce legislation that "improves" the finances of Social Security and other trust fund programs. The legislation would then receive expedited consideration in both chambers of Congress, with no amendments allowed.
Romney's TRUST Act, which resembles more recent fiscal commission proposals, was endorsed by former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, who co-chaired the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform—commonly known as the Bowles-Simpson Commission.
Formed during the Obama presidency, the panel recommended steep cuts to Social Security benefits that Congress ultimately rejected.
"Congress should address Social Security in the sunlight, through regular order, as it always has."
In their letter on Wednesday, the progressive advocacy coalition noted that some have compared Johnson's proposed fiscal panel to the Greenspan Commission, a body formed in the early 1980s ahead of the 1983 Social Security amendments that raised the retirement age, among other changes.
"However, they are nothing alike," the letter argues. "The Greenspan Commission recommendations were nothing more than recommendations. What was ultimately proposed and considered by Congress went through regular order, with committee hearings and the ability to amend and debate, both in committee and on the floor of both the House and Senate."
A group of individuals who worked as staffers on the Greenspan panel or for its members released a statement Wednesday affirming that point and voicing opposition to the renewed push for a fiscal commission.
"Today's policymakers should not use the Greenspan Commission as the rationale for using a fast-tracked commission to push through highly unpopular and unwise benefit cuts," the statement reads. "With the disappearance of traditional pensions, Social Security is more important than ever."
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works and a former top staffer on the Greenspan Commission, said Wednesday that "Congress should address Social Security in the sunlight, through regular order, as it always has."
"The only reason to create a fast-track, closed-door commission is to overthrow the will of the American people by cutting their hard-earned benefits," said Altman. "Anyone who supports this commission is supporting benefit cuts."
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'MAGA Mike Johnson' Wants Commission to Cut Social Security Formed 'Immediately'
Social Security Works said that the new House speaker's "NUMBER ONE priority is to cut our earned benefits behind closed doors."
Nov 02, 2023
When Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives elected Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson as speaker last week, critics quickly sounded the alarm about his previous calls to cut trillions of dollars from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—and the GOP leader triggered a fresh wave of fears on Thursday with related comments to a Capitol Hill journalist.
NBC News' Sahil Kapur reported on social media that Johnson "says he pitched a debt commission to Senate Republicans yesterday and 'the idea was met with great enthusiasm.' He says it will be bipartisan and bicameral. He says he wants 'very thoughtful people' in both parties to lead it. He wants this 'immediately.'"
In response to Johnson's remarks—which echoed his first speech as speaker—the Alliance for Retired Americans wrote, "Translation: They're eager to begin gutting Social Security behind closed doors."
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla)—who led the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)—celebrated Johnson's rise as a win for the far-right. He declared last week that "MAGA is ascendant," referring to the "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan of former President Donald Trump, who is the GOP front-runner for 2024.
Critics of the new speaker have similarly framed his election as a display of the far-right's hold on the Republican Party, and are even calling him "MAGA Mike," including in response to his comments Thursday.
"A week into his tenure, MAGA Mike Johnson is ALREADY calling for closed-door cuts to the Social Security and Medicare benefits American workers have earned through decades of hard work," warned Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee.
Social Security Works said that "MAGA Mike Johnson's NUMBER ONE priority is to cut our earned benefits behind closed doors."
"The White House has rightfully called this type of commission a 'death panel' for Social Security and Medicare," the group noted. "HANDS OFF!"
Back in February, long before McCarthy struck a deal with President Joe Biden to suspend the country's debt ceiling, Republicans in Congress and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) were floating the idea of a commission, and White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said that "the American people want more jobs and lower costs, not a death panel for Medicare and Social Security."
As Republican lawmakers have continued to pursue the idea, others have embraced the "death panel" description.
After Johnson's mention of the commission in his speech last week, Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik wrote:
On the whole, Johnson's approach to social safety net programs comes right out of the GOP library of lies about the programs' finances and their effect on the federal budget.
"The reality is, they're headed towards bankruptcy," he said in his July 2022 C-SPAN appearance. "In just a few number of years, Social Security goes belly up. So does Medicare, Medicaid, all of these big-spending programs because we're drowning in debt."
The idea that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are going "bankrupt" is standard Republican hogwash. So is the idea that Social Security will go "belly up" in some number of years—even if Congress sits on its hands, the program will still have enough revenue to cover three-quarters of the benefits due.
"The notion that those programs are drivers of the federal debt is also a bog-standard GOP talking point," Hiltzik added. "A far more significant portion of the federal budget deficit is the lavish tax cut that Johnson's party gifted to corporations and the wealthy in 2017, a $1.5-trillion giveaway from which the U.S. economy received no significant gain."
Most House Republicans and a dozen Democrats on Thursday evening voted to pass a bill that would deliver on Biden's request for $14.3 billion to help Israel wage war on Gaza—which experts are condemning as genocide—and cut Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding.
Analysts and Democrats in Congress have warned that the IRS cut would hamper the agency's ability to crack down on wealthy tax cheats, bolstered by the Congressional Budget Office finding Wednesday that the measure would reduce federal revenues by $26.8 billion and add $12.5 billion to the deficit over the next decade.
Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who opposed the bill and is among the few Democrats demanding a cease-fire in Gaza, said that "the only thing crueler than sending $14 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars for weapons that will result in the deaths of thousands more innocent Palestinian children in Gaza is exploiting that war—exploiting the death of over 1,400 Israeli mothers, fathers, grandparents, children, and hundreds more hostages—to help corporate CEOs and billionaire donors cheat on their taxes."
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