Sensing the Senate can be won, Republicans are changing their rhetoric on Social Security benefits.
Ads in races around the country paint the GOP’s Democratic opponents as lacking the backbone to defend retirement benefits for seniors.
One example is a National Republican Campaign Committee ad attacking Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., as reported by the Washington Post.
The ad accuses Barrow of “leaving Georgia seniors behind” by being a proponent of “a plan that would raise the retirement age to 69 while cutting Social Security benefits.”
A Crossroads GPS ad — the conservative 501(c)4 associated with Karl Rove — has run similar attack ads against Democrats Sen. Mark Pryor in Arkansas, Sen. Kay Hagan in North Carolina and Rep. Scott Peters in California.
In Arkansas and Colorado, Republican nominees Tom Cotton and Cory Gardner, respectively, have also released their own ads promising to protect seniors and Social Security.
A National Academy of Social Insurance survey found both parties overwhelmingly support Social Security, with 69 percent of Republicans agreeing that it’s important to, “preserve Social Security benefits […] even if it means increasing the Social Security taxes.”
However, with another battle on the debt ceiling looming in 2015 and scheduled agency cuts in 2016, Republicans will soon face a new crossroads at having to deal with Social Security, taxes and the federal deficit.
“Entitlement reform has always been the most difficult piece of the debt-reduction equation,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
“Attacking Democrats who have been willing to break with their party’s orthodoxy sets back the traditionally Republican agenda of entitlement reform tremendously,” she said.
For now though, Republicans are focused on Nov. 4.
