Liberal Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. said on Tuesday that Democrats were at war with Republicans over Social Security’s finances.
“We are at war right now,” Schakowsky said at a briefing hosted by the Strengthen Social Security Coalition. “Make no mistake about it. The Republicans have every intention to go after so-called ‘entitlements.’ … The Republicans want to create this fear. Fear in young people that it’s not going to be there for them even though it’s been there, it’ll be 80 years in August. They want to create fear that we just can’t afford it.”
Schakowsky claimed fear was unnecessary because Social Security hasn’t missed a payment in its 80-year existence. She said the United States could afford Social Security because it’s the richest country in the world at the richest point ever in history.
The Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund is projected to reach depletion in late 2016. Over 10 million recipients would see their benefits cut by 20 percent if the fund is depleted. If the Disability Insurance Trust Fund were combined with the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the combined trust funds would be projected to reach depletion in 2033.
In January, House Republicans passed a rule that would prohibit reallocation of revenue between Social Security’s two trust funds, unless such a reallocation was part of a package that would improve Social Security’s finances. The aim was to make sure that lawmakers didn’t rely on short-term accounting gimmickry to avoid dealing with the underlying problem of too few people paying into the the system to pay for its obligations. Schakowsky called the rule “extremely dangerous” and said “it demonstrates their clear intention to absolutely slash benefits.”
She also claimed the rule would force cuts in disability benefits by 20 percent or cut Social Security benefits for everyone else. However, the language of the rule would not necessarily require cuts, it just requires the program’s finances to be improved by any bill that would reallocate revenue between the trust funds. In theory, a bill could increase payroll tax revenue and still be in compliance with the rule without requiring cuts.
Schakowsky called the rule an issue of “life and death” and said Republicans have no “decency.”
