Column: A Republican senator hints at gutting Social Security ‘behind closed doors’

Meeting of the minds? During a town hall appearance in her home state over the weekend, Ernst said members of Congress should hold discussions about Social Security “behind closed doors.” The minute you say we need to address Social Security, the media is hammering you, the opposing party is hammering you — there goes granny over a cliff. — Sen. Joni Ernst Secrecy is essential, she said, “so we’re not being scrutinized by this group or the other, and just have an open and honest conversation about what are some of the ideas that we have for maintaining Social Security in the future.” Americans across the political and demographic spectrums are solidly against cutting Social Security benefits. × Sen. Joni Ernst wants to “reform” Social Security behind closed doors “We do have to reform Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security,” Ernst said. “And the way we do that with Social Security is by looking at transitioning our younger workers onto individual plans or individual savings accounts, whether that’s tied to the market, whether it’s based on interest rates -- however we want to do that, we can have that discussion.” Politics Column: A new proposal to expand Social Security would make it much better for working Americans Feeling their progressive oats after a few years in the wilderness, House Democrats on Tuesday revived a proposal to increase and expand Social Security benefits while making the program more solvent for the foreseeable future.