ICYMI — McIntosh WSJ OpEd: The Biden/Trump Plan to Cut Social Security

Will Mitola  |   April 14, 2023

Washington, D.C. — In case you missed it, Club for Growth President David McIntosh penned an OpEd in the Wall Street Journal emphasizing that the Biden/Trump plan to leave Social Security untouched will lead to massive cuts to benefit programs. Under current law, Social Security is set to be automatically cut by 23% in the next 10 years.

“While the Biden/Trump plan may sound like a pledge to protect your Social Security payments, that couldn’t be further from the case,” said Club for Growth President David McIntosh. “Before accounting for the record high inflation Americans have dealt with for the past 2 years, Social Security can only be funded at current levels until 2034. Because all of the funding for Social Security must come from the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, we must look for change in order to protect these benefits for future generations.”

 

Click here to read David McIntosh’s full piece in the Wall Street Journal.

 

 

EXCERPTS: 

Joe Biden and Donald Trump agree on one thing. “I guarantee you I will protect Social Security and Medicare without any change. Guaranteed,” Mr. Biden said in March. Mr. Trump has said: “I will do everything within my power not to touch Social Security, to leave it the way it is.” A pro-Trump super PAC launched an ad attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his efforts as a member of Congress to restructure benefits.

The Biden-Trump position may sound like a pledge to protect Social Security, but it isn’t. The law “without any change” requires a huge benefit cut in 10 years.

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According to the latest annual report from the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, from which the current levels of Social Security benefits are drawn, will be able to issue payments to retirees only until 2034.

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“Taking action sooner rather than later will allow consideration of a broader range of solutions and provide more time to phase in changes so that the public has adequate time to prepare,” the trustees warn.

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Thus consequences of leaving Social Security “without any changes,” as promised by Biden-Trump, are dire. Ten years from now, benefit cuts of 23% will be triggered if there is no change to Social Security, according to one analysis.

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Meanwhile, the Biden-Trump strategy has been to play “beat the clock,” leaving their successors to deal with the crisis.

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Candidates with a record of entitlement reform like Messrs. Pence and DeSantis would do well to point out that doing nothing is the worst Social Security cut.