Republicans Applaud Biden On Social Security During State Of The Union
Huff PostLOADING ERROR LOADING WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden engaged in something of a live negotiation with congressional Republicans during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night — and the two sides even seemed to agree. But for the past two weeks, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has made definitive statements that Republicans “won’t touch” Social Security or Medicare as part of the debt ceiling standoff and that the programs are “off the table.” Following Tuesday’s speech, several House Republicans echoed that sentiment to HuffPost. “There’s not going to be any cuts to Social Security or Medicare benefits,” Rep. Andrew Clyde said. In his remarks, Biden pointed to a proposal by Sen. Rick Scott that would “sunset” all federal laws every five years, meaning Congress would have to continuously reauthorize everything ― including Social Security and Medicare. If life expectancies go up 20 years, what does that mean for what the appropriate retirement age is?” There seems to be an increasing recognition among House Republicans that they’ll need to settle for modest policy victories in the debt ceiling standoff, given that Democrats control the Senate and the White House and Biden has been bludgeoning them relentlessly over Social Security.