A group of bipartisan senators is quietly meeting to retool Social Security before funds run out in 2032.
On the table, according to Semafor, is gradually raising the retirement age to 70 and creating a $1.5 trillion sovereign wealth fund, which would invest in stocks.
That fund would be separate from the already existing Social Security Trust Fund. If it underperformed, Social Security would be shored up by increasing the maximum taxable income and payroll taxes.
Leading the efforts are Sens. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, and Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats.
Semafor and The Hill newspaper reported that other Republicans involved are Sens. John Cornyn, Mitt Romney and Mike Rounds.
Social Security has been front-and-center in the American political debate since last month’s State of the Union address.
During President Joe Biden’s constitutionally mandated speech, the Democrat lashed out at Republicans for wanting to go after Social Security and Medicare.
As his evidence, he used Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s pre-midterms proposal to ‘sunset’ every piece of federal legislation every five years.
Scott denied that his plan included Social Security and Medicare, but later amended the website.
At the same time, Republicans have gone after vulnerable Senate Democrats, suggesting they jeopardized the solvency of the programs when they voted for Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in the early weeks of his administration.
Republicans have pointed to that bill as the culprit behind rising inflation.
In mid-February, the National Republican Senatorial Committee launched new ads tying the bill to future cuts in Medicare and Social Security.
‘You earned your retirement benefits, followed the rules, paid into the system, but Jon Tester wants to take them away. Tester backed Joe Biden’s extreme agenda, putting your Medicare and Social Security at risk,’ said one ad, aimed at the Montana Democrat who said he would run for reelection in 2024.
‘Tell Jon Tester: Hands off our benefits.’
Rounds, a member of the group, told The Hill newspaper that one of the hardest parts of the talks has been keeping ‘presidential politics out of it.’
‘It’s a really easy third rail to use on both sides of the aisle, if you want to go after an opponent,’ he told the paper.
Romney told the publication that he believed the Social Security bill would be introduced later this year.
‘I’m not sure it’ll pass this year, but obviously, it’s a huge topic with enormous interest, and the fact that we have both Medicare and Social Security that are slated to become insolvent within a decade suggests that we need to make sure to save them.’
SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk
