Could there be a Social Security compromise? After weeks of President Joe Biden hitting Republicans for wanting to cut Social Security, a new report says a bipartisan group of Senators is working on a compromise to raise the retirement age for the program.
Is a Social Security Fix Coming?
In the 2022 midterms, the Democrats had a lot of success accusing Republicans of wanting to cut or jeopardize Social Security.
After all, multiple Republican candidates and officials had hinted at wanting to do just that.
This has continued after the midterms, including heading into the upcoming debt ceiling negotiations, and Biden managed to get an applause line at the State of the Union when he appeared to negotiate with his opponents from the stage.
Now, there’s word that members of both parties are working on a potential Social Security compromise.
What a Deal Looks Like
Semafor reported Tuesday that a bipartisan group of senators is negotiating a change that would “gradually” raise the retirement age to 70, as part of their legislation to overhaul Social Security.
The group is led by Sen. Angus King (I-ME), an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
There are other options being discussed, Semafor said, including changing the benefits formula, “from one based on a worker’s average earnings over 35 years to a different formula that’s based instead on the number of years spent working and paying into Social Security.”
The plan would also create a new sovereign wealth fund, which would be “seeded with $1.5 trillion or more in borrowed money to jumpstart stock investments.”
But if that fund failed to generate a high enough return, both the maximum taxable income and the payroll tax rate would be increased.
“This is an example of two leaders trying to find a solution to a clear and foreseeable danger,” spokespeople for the two senators said in a statement.
“Although the final framework is still taking shape, there are no cuts for Americans currently receiving Social Security benefits in our plan. Indeed, many will receive additional benefits.”
Semafor, in its own analysis, added that it’s unlikely that a majority of Democrats would go along with such a plan.
“The president has not endorsed a specific proposal but has made clear that he opposes Social Security benefit cuts,” a White House official said in the story.
“He does welcome proposals from members of Congress on how to extend Social Security’s solvency without cutting benefits or increasing taxes on anyone making less than $400,000.”
Other than Republican Mike Rounds of South Dakota, other members of the group were not mentioned in the Semafor story.
If King, the independent, is the only “Democrat,” it’s a matter of semantics whether or not the legislation is truly “bipartisan.”
Journalist Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo is looking into that very question.
“Possibly there are stealth Democrats involved in the group hiding in the shadows. Or perhaps they have a terrible comms operation and they can’t get placed in the Semafor pieces,” Marshall wrote after the Semafor story.
Social Security is currently scheduled to lose the ability to pay out full benefits starting in 2034, and there have been various proposals, mostly in the last Congress, to change the formula in order to make it last longer, although none of the proposals last year even made it out of committee.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and a group of other progressive colleagues in both houses of Congress introduced a new version of the bill, which is known as the Social Security Expansion Act.
The Sanders proposal would “expand Social Security benefits by $2,400 a year and ensure Social Security is fully funded for the next 75 years – all without raising taxes by one penny on over 93 percent of American households that make $250,000 or less,” the lawmakers announced.
That bill, also, is highly unlikely to advance far in the current Congress, especially with Republicans now in control in the House.
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Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
