GOP planning 'catastrophic default' if Democrats refuse to cut Social Security and Medicare

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.alternet.org/2022/10/gop-plans-catastrophic-default-democrats/


Top House Republicans are planning to threaten to shut down the U.S. Government by refusing to raise the debt ceiling next year in a scheme to force Democrats to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, should they win the House in November critics warn, pointing to a Bloomberg report.

“Social Security and Medicare eligibility changes, spending caps, and safety-net work requirements are among the top priorities for key House Republicans who want to use next year’s debt-limit deadline to extract concessions from Democrats,” Bloomberg Law reports. “The four Republicans interested in serving as House Budget Committee chairman in the next Congress said in interviews that next year’s deadline to raise or suspend the debt ceiling is a point of leverage if their party can win control of the House in the November midterm elections.”

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), chair of the Joint Economic Committee Democrats, an advisory committee created by law, blasted House Republicans, warning they “plan to hold the U.S. economy hostage with the threat of a catastrophic default to try to force cuts to Social Security and Medicare.”

Aaron Fritschner, former Deputy Chief of Staff to Rep. Beyer tweeted: “House Republicans saying out loud that holding the debt limit hostage to demands for cuts to Social Security and Medicare is a ‘top priority.'”

*snip*

[scarletlib]

1. Let them force the default and see how long it lasts

It will be bad but NO WAY do we let them force this on Democrats who they will then forever blame in political ads as “the party who cut your Social Security and Medicare “

Make them fucking own it.

[spanone]

2. ⇧ ⇧ ⇧ ⇧ THIS ⇧ ⇧ ⇧ ⇧

[Rebl2]

57. Definitely This

[BobTheSubgenius]

82. This many times!

[PortTack]

5. Nailed it!!

[Grins]

26. Agree ! Do it! Point directly at them and call their bluff.

Give them the government, society, and economy they want. Then stand back an watch…

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to GET IT GOOD AND HARD.” - H. L. Mencken

[Bernardo de La Paz]

31. If they want to hold their senior base hostage so they can hurt their senior base, okay I suppose.nt

[ancianita]

53. Do that ...

Give them the government, society, and economy they want. Then stand back an watch…

... and we'll never get America's democracy back. And trust me, they'll be after us, and you won't be standing back and watching for long.

[msongs]

37. time to make them own is now, before the election. ougtha be the dems #1 issue, cuts to SS and

medicare

[Lonestarblue]

75. How many months without a Social Security check will it take for voters to be screaming?

No many. These people are idiots, but Democrats definitely need to use this against them. I’m surprised that Democrats have not publicized Rick Scott’s proposal to re-authorize Social Security every five years. That alone should frighten voters because they know Republicans will definitely cut taxes for the wealthy and then say we can’t afford SS.

Too many voters will just shrug and say that Republicans will never do that. They need to be reminded that voters just shrugged at the threat to Roe and said it would never be overturned. It was—and there’s more to come this term.

[certainot]

78. not so sure..... they have 1500 radio stations to blame it on democrats, working all day for free

all year long.

every time we get close to a debt ceiling default it's because those radio stations, in part working for putin, pushed for it. what republican business tycoon wants default? in 2011 limbaugh pushed it for weeks for putin and the idiot republicans jumped on it - any consequences?

these republican shit for brains are dittoheads who heard years of lies about social security and medicare are 'entitlements' propping up lazy dems (and brown people)

[calimary]

87. THIS, DAMMIT!

Make ‘em OWN it.

The Republicans want to take YOUR Social Security and Medicare AWAY.

YOU worked all your life for that. It’s NO freebie. It’s NO government handout. It’s YOUR money. And they want to TAKE IT FROM YOU.

REPUBLICANS want to TAKE IT AWAY FROM YOU. After you worked all your life to earn that money.

That’s YOUR money for YOUR retirement. That YOU earned, day by day, the hard way.

What say you, America?

Are YOU going to let Republicans get away with YOUR money????

[calimary]

88. Tax cuts! More tax cuts for the poor RICH PEOPLE!

Your mom taught you to share.

Who taught THE rich not to?

[LonePirate]

3. Dems can raise the debt limit at any time and by any amount. They should do so now.

They could raise it enough for indefinite amount of time if they choose. No sense playing games with those idiots.

[Jerry2144]

6. They could just eliminate it entirely

It's an artifact from the gold standard that is no longer needed. Just vote once to eliminate it. What truly matters is the budget/spending bills. Those bills authorize the Fed government to spend money and to collect taxes. Once the money is authorized via spending bills, it is ready to go out the door.

[pnwmom]

11. There's no filibuster for that?

[LonePirate]

12. It was canned back in 2021, I think.

Eliminating the debt ceiling altogether is the best move. Not sure if that would require a filibuster but raising it to an astronomical level would have the same effect and that can be done without a filibuster.

[calimary]

35. Just DO IT, Dems!

And do it NOW.

BEFORE the election.

[pnwmom]

40. Why before the election?

[calimary]

43. It's a critically important problem to address.

And it’s a gamble alright.

However, I think it’s rather urgent we get top-priority issues handled - WHILE we know we still have the votes. Yes, before the election.

I’ve been around and paying some degree of attention long enough to want to push ahead. And I mean PUSH. Take the lead and USE what having the lead lets you do! Democrats have been squeamishly soft-pedaling it for far too long. Yeah sometimes diplomacy is the recommended response. A lot, or maybe most of the time diplomacy is the recommended/preferred response.

But occasionally, seems to me, you gotta kick the door in.

[pnwmom]

44. But we'll still have the votes during the lame duck session.

I'm not sure this will be a helpful issue in the campaign.

[calimary]

46. Oh yes! ALL the more reason to do it BEFORE. Dispel discouragement!

Seems to me THIS is the basic challenge: to keep everybody “up for the fight”.

We can’t afford ANY discouragement! Not ANY!!!

I’m pulling the age ‘n’ wisdom thing a little bit here, but what we’re talking about here is perspective. I
have literally witnessed the “Great Wilting” among Dems in many past elections. And it rules the beforehand of the election as well as the aftermath.

First time I noticed it was in the Humphrey/Muskie days. I was pretty young then but I couldn’t escape this feeling, watching & reading the news, that This Is Not Good. They just didn’t get you up ‘n’ excited. You supported them only because you were determined to be a loyal Democrat. On principle, Dammit!

And the Nixon/McGovern era.

And soon enough, a sickening new era opened with Ronald Reagan. He said out loud what was discussed quietly, under the radar, at the chi-chi country clubs and wealthy white “Uppity Young Entitlement” club. He even said, openly, that the point was to make it possible for you to “get rich”.

And I gotta say, we really had nothing. Carter/Mondale (peanuts and milquetoast) and Mondale/Ferraro - the one with the nerd and the woman on the ticket. Actually ON the ticket! And yeah, I remember the broad white oval campaign buttons of Margaret Chase Smith with her name in beautiful print and a single long-stemmed rose. She was a Republican, I think.

And the Repubs had a canned and pompadour’d ex-movie star “Captain America” guy who had a brilliant-while-folksy-at-the-same-time delivery and could read the freakin’ hell out of a sheet of copy, absolute catnip it was. Man! The imaging! The campaign ads - and visuals - and a Godzilla of a PR operation working with a candidate who USED TO BE AN ACTOR, okay? And the commercials wrote themselves.

And it’s pretty much been downhill from there, with an increasingly shrewd and nervy opponent on that other side of the aisle. And our side, to many observers, keeps on playing it safe. Bill Clinton was an exception, and yet they impeached the guy, so that will always be pretty prominently in his bio even though it was TOTAL B.S. and they failed to convict. But they still left a stain on the carpet.

And I seriously believe that a key reason President Obama won twice was that the enemy didn’t know quite what to do with him. They were (rightfully) afraid to look racist. They knew that would be the biggest and most long-lasting stink bomb in modern politics. They threw a few punches - that missed - but I sometimes think they were doomed against this gigantic kind of history-making candidate, and conceded it. I bet if they were ever to be honest, they admit knowing deep-down that they weren’t gonna beat him.

Which brings us to the present President. Proof positive that nice guys finish first. Yes they can, and they DO.

Btw - thank you for tolerating me here!

[pnwmom]

47. That's a great analysis, calimary! Thank you. To add to your thoughts,

I wondered at the time if Obama was allowed to win simply because the economy was in the toilet after Bush, and they wanted someone else to clean the mess up. They intended for him to be a one-term President, and then they could campaign on his failure.

[calimary]

48. OF COURSE they wanted somebody else to clean it up!

Who? They? They should be made to clean up their own mess that THEY made?

Problem is - I think there definitely is reason to question, dread, and even fear, what the Repubs' idea of what "cleaning up their own mess that they made" might be:

1) Mess? Whaddya mean "mess"? There's no mess! Everything's just fine!

2) Mess? Well, yes, there are some messses we DO need to clean up. Like helping the poor. Like laws, initiatives, and proposals that benefit the "have-nots" and not the "haves" for a change. Don't forget those poor rich people! They need love, too!

3) Well, yes. Let's form a commission and discuss it. What's to be defined? By how? And by whom? We might need to set up a "research group" to investigate what kind of commission we're talking about, and we'd have to define and discuss THAT, too. We may even have to organize a four-day symposium on that, set up somewhere that you can go skiing!


It's just SO Damn Frustrating!!!

And, uh, again, thanks for bearing with me, pnwmom. Or maybe is that "suffering through me"?!

[calimary]

50. By the way, my friend, I think we should all be kicking these ideas around.

We HAVE to think around the enemy. We've got some of the best brains and communicators and strategists and historians and educators and other specialists (including actual real-world practitioners!) posting here - and elsewhere, and reading stuff that they then share links toward. It just sharpens the thinking. And we all need that. We need to be nimble thinkers when faced with opponents THIS well connected, endorsed, and funded. We've gotta be ready on multiple arguments and subjects, and know the issues well-enough that the opposition can't poke holes in the points we're trying to make, thereby costing us credibility! We HAVE TO be informed to guard against that.

Besides, seems to me anyway, the more thinking we do on that, the more likely at least somebody here will A + B + C and get D or D-E, or D to the third power! You kick ideas around. Somebody sees or hears it and just might have something to say about it, or a question about it, or a rebuttal of it. ALL to the good! Cuz we need to know what ideas and proposals DON'T make sense, cost too much, are unrealistic, or supported by lower numbers of people (a smaller group has less clout and isn't taken as seriously).

But THIS place, for example, and think tanks and other such set-ups encourages thought and analysis and conversation. Thinking and positioning is examined, refined, challenged, defended, argued effectively, AND the recognition of the "in." You listen to what the opponent says and find the loophole. You find the single exception or the convincing truckload of evidence to support your position. Places like this let us test-drive ideas, opinions, and positions. And the more you know, and the more you read other people's arguments and positions here, the more ideas you'll have if somebody challenges YOUR argument or position. AND the reaction that may come to something you said - is VERY useful information, too. FEEDBACK! Like sandpaper! It can gently and delicately shape or smooth, or it can grind down a whole mountainside.

That's one of the biggest reasons I can't tear myself away from this place.

[markodochartaigh]

71. McCain/Palin

"... if Obama was allowed to win simply because the economy was in the toilet after Bush, and they wanted someone else to clean the mess up."
Definitely. McCain was the weakest candidate of the Republican choices and he chose Palin as vp, someone who brought literally no new voters to the ticket. 2007 looked historically bad economically, like a new Great Depression, and the Republicans did not want it to be associated with them.

[3auld6phart]

55. The way I read it

It seems they know they will lose the upcoming elections.They the ( “ pulled”) really get there
Jolllies hurting others.

[calimary]

59. I sure hope they lose the upcoming elections!

[tritsofme]

39. The debt limit can be raised with a simple majority through reconciliation.

Should Republicans take the House, I expect a major increase during the lame duck.

[Marthe48]

4. Maybe Dems should codify the debt limit

Make it a law that it is mandatory to raise it annually, regardless if a raise is necessary. Just build in a % and hope it's enough to cover the debt.

I am so sick of the debt ceiling being used as a weapon. This is like the abusive breadwinner in a family refusing to provide for the spouse and children. It is creating fear, uncertainty, and an inability to make any kind of financial plans more than a year out. I wouldn't accept this from a spouse and I damn well don't accept it from repressive asses who want to create a fascist, bankrupt nation.

[PatSeg]

21. Yes, this ridiculous political stunt is really getting old already

I'll never understand why republicans don't pay a severe price for these antics, especially where Social Security and Medicare are involved.

Often republican politicians appear to be people who could never make it in any other line of work except possibly organized crime. They are predictably devious and dishonest pretty much all the time.

[keep_left]

7. These people are just asking for it. On top of the pandemic, inflation, Ukraine, and...

...everything else that's gone wrong, they pile more stress and strain on a beleaguered country and political system. Apparently the events of the past few years (George Floyd protests, January 6, etc.) have not made any impact whatsoever. At some point, you reap the whirlwind.

[Martin Eden]

8. How much are they willing to raise taxes on the obscenely wealthy?

Oh wait, never mind.

They work for the obscenely wealthy who finance their election campaigns.

[captain queeg]

9. Attack on SS should be heavily played up by the Dems

That will cost the rethugs more votes than anything else. It’s the golden apple of R policy and that needs to be highlighted.

[MarcA]

15. +1000 n/t

[IcyPeas]

28. ... waiting for the Dems to jump on this....

... waiting

... waiting

[Ace Rothstein]

64. Absolutely insane that they haven't.

I still can't believe posters here think out messaging is fine.

[Lucinda]

10. ...

[Hortensis]

13. :) Good. Spread the word. Less than a month to election day.

[Samrob]

18. That's what I'm talkin' about. Let Joe name names and show their faces on prime time TV!

[jaxexpat]

33. If he sees it as serious enough and valuable enough to play......

I'm sure he, or his minions, will see that it's thrown into the game. Possibly the savviest DemocratIC politician since FDR.

[Buckeyeblue]

14. This just goes to show how much Republicans hate poor people

And yet many of those poor people vote for Republicans. It's beyond explanation.

[ToxMarz]

16. They shut down the government every chance they get

so let 'em. They'll just find another reason to do it anyway.

Zero. Fucks. Given!

[SergeStorms]

17. They had no problem raising it for TFG.

With all those tax cuts for the rich and corporate America, they had to raise it quite a bit.

When Trump took office the debt was $19.8 trillion. By the time he left office it was well over $27 trillion. Republicans had no problem whatsoever with increasing the debt ceiling then.

So I guess republicans are only concerned about debt when Democrats are in office, is that correct?

[malthaussen]

19. SSDD. n/t

[packman]

20. Let them grab that proverbial 3rd rail

Idiots

[oldsoftie]

22. I'll be 62 soon & plan on collecting as soon as I can.

[asiliveandbreathe]

32. From a friend who was an employee of SS - she advised I apply for SS 3 months before

62 years, if that is when you decide to apply..

[oldsoftie]

45. Thank you I didnt know that

[The Unmitigated Gall]

23. Bring it. Fucking scumbags.

[Tree Lady]

24. It bogs my mind why older republicans

Living off these vote for them. It is so obvious all they care about is the rich and making money off the poor. I guess people are willing to be homeless for their cause.

[Justice matters.]

29. They believe every lies the FOX hate-entertainers catapult out of their TV set.

Mind boggling.

[Demobrat]

34. They don't believe it.

They believe that Republicans wanting to cut social security and Medicare is a lie and a Democratic scare tactic.

[mwooldri]

25. If there is a MAGA shutdown...

... I hope the Biden administration works it so that the ones who caused the pain receives the most inconvenience from this. Massive lines at the TSA checkpoint at Washington National Airport for a start.

[Wounded Bear]

27. Sounds like a good reason to Vote Blue, no matter who!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

30. GQP can only tear down, not govern. . . . . nt

[calimary]

36. All ANYBODY needs to know is this:

Republicans DON’T want to help you.

Republicans DON’T want to help anybody.

Just repeat that. Pound it into the ears via the brain. If that message just gets pounded and pounded and pressed and pressed and REPEATED and REPEATED, it will inevitably sink in and be fully absorbed.

Just think how many advertising jingles and slogans you can remember, like you just now saw some.

It’s an “earwig.” Gets I to your ear. And when they get into your ear, they can move on through into the brain.

Just DO IT, Dems!

[iemanja]

38. They want to help the rich

and that's it.

[calimary]

42. Exactly! The reminder message is:

The Repubs don’t want to help YOU. It’s YOU they don’t want to help. It’s everybody and anybody who’s NOT a multi-millionaire or higher they don’t want to help. NOT the wealthy, privileged elites they don’t want to help. It’s all the rest of us. US!

And if we’re lucky enough to have the numbers we have, it’s not only stupid, it’s short-sighted and wasteful, even sinful, NOT to make use of them!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

83. Earwig you say?

Roe, Roe, Roe your vote
against theocracy!
Republicans revoke your rights
and kill democracy!

THESE are the races that will determine control of the House of Representatives:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217206774

Got post-its?
Stick 'em up for a blue wave: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217078977

[Scalded Nun]

41. Get ads started up and keep them up until election day

The GOP (or a specified candidate) wants to take away your SS.
The GOP wants to take away your Medicare.
The GOP has said for decades they want to kill Roe V Wade, and now they have done it and are now setting their sights on your benefits and money, just to give it away to the rich.

Use takes from the lips of GOPers.

Good Lord, folks. Put a spotlight on their evil shit and do it fast.

[Takket]

49. They won't be cutting fucking shit if we GOTV

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

51. The GOP has a death wish

Let's start seeing some campaign ads on this.

[honest.abe]

52. The solution to Social Security crisis is obvious.. raise the taxable maximum.

Only the first $142,800 of a worker’s earnings is subject to the 12.4% in Social Security taxes. Every dollar after that gets off scott free. The current arrangement means that roughly 85% of wages are subject to taxes. By increasing that to 90% of wages, or removing the cap altogether, Social Security’s finances crisis could be resolved.

Not sure why lawmakers refuse to go this route. Seems relatively painless and simple to implement.

[Rebl2]

58. Maybe they

don’t have the votes, but can’t imagine a democrat being against it. I suppose repukes would filabuster if they tried to do this.

[Ace Rothstein]

66. SS cuts are usually future cuts to people who haven't received them yet.

They'll raise the retirement age by a year every few years as to not lose any current votes.

[honest.abe]

74. Actually they are talking about means testing which would affect current social security recipients.

Raising the FRA would help but I dont that will be enough plus it is really unfair to many who have jobs that are very difficult for older folks.

[Mariana]

76. Not likely.

They can easily write a bill that implements means testing, but not for 10 or 15 or 20 years, and that excludes anyone who's already drawing SS. That's how benefit cuts were done before, when they raised the retirement, so only younger people had their future benefits cut. People who were already receiving SS, or who were scheduled to receive it soon weren't affected at all.

This would be very popular with old Republican voters. Most of them hate younger people and would enthusiastically support any legislation that fucks them over.

[honest.abe]

86. Waiting 10-15 years to implement a fix will be too late.

According to latest analysis SS reserves will be exhausted by then. These changes need to happen within next 5 years or so to have any real impact.

[NullTuples]

54. Wait, wait, wait...haven't they made threats like this every time anyway? How is this new?

[David__77]

56. Then, the only option would be to allow default.

Any negotiation on that point would be an unforgivable betrayal. And I certainly do not expect that anyone would even contemplate cutting benefits for a moment.

[JoeOtterbein]

60. K n R ! Thanks for posting!

The evil stuff the GOP is!

[DemocraticPatriot]

61. Yet another reason why the GOP should not be trusted with The House, Senate,

or any government position whatsoever...

[czarjak]

62. "Any means necessary." They mean it.

[Meadowoak]

63. GOTV

[Martin68]

65. Defaulting on Social Security and Medicare is a winning proposition?

Sounds like Assured Mutual Destruction.

[Ferrets are Cool]

67. Please let our side use this in ads. Please, please, pretty please.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

68. Do none of them have mothers or older sisters or brothers

who depend on Medicare and Social Security????

[Hekate]

69. They really hate America, don't they?

[Mariana]

77. They really hate Americans.

They hate pretty much anyone who isn't an old, rich, white, male, Christian native-born American citizen

[Hekate]

81. Pretty much

[summer_in_TX]

70. If we have video of any of them saying it OR television news reports on what they said,

those would make great material for ads. Rotate them with Rick Scott's plans for requiring Medicare and Social Security to be reauthorized every 5 years.

[lonely bird]

72. These fucking idiots understand nothing

The entire world views the debt of the government of the United States as THE place to go for “safety” when political economic conditions are turbulent. If that is screwed up by these mediocre white men there is literally no telling what will happen to our economy and much of the world economy.

[PXR-5]

73. Two Words...

LOCK BOX

Everyone laughed when Al Gore said this, but he was right.

[Pepsidog]

79. We have learned that republicans mean what they say. Why would old folks in Fla and elsewhere vote

Republican. If Dems ever win solid majorities in the house and senate and we have a Dem. president, there must be a real effort to push the limits of limiting the 1st. Amend to stop rw media, especially Fox from polluting the minds of so many Americans.

There's absolutely no reason for the vast majority of middle class and working poor Americans to vote republican. Radical change is needed. The vast majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. The American dream is largely over or untrainable for most Americans. Corporate America has their feet on the necks of Americans and wringing every last dollar from them for profits. So much wealth has accumulated in so few hands that life in America is so miserable that the only enjoyment millions of people have is following a traitorous ex-president and his party and they demonize and stoke fear in Democrats and other vulnerable groups just for the fun of it. It's so easy for them to hate LGBQ and minorities just for the fun of it. It's so easy to label Dems as "woke". Republicans are too brainwashed to realize that being "woke" is good for them and America. It's so much easier for them to ridicule and hate than to accept and love.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

84. It is not necessary to limit the 1st A at all -- limit monopolization of media

The FCC is supposed to work for "consumers" by promoting competition and preventing consolidation. Instead, it has rubber-stamped mergers and purchases every time there has been a Republican administration. Most of the media that most US citizens now consume is controlled by 6 corporations.

[Mad_Machine76]

80. Guess we'll find out if this is a winning strategy for them

[Deminpenn]

85. Because their RW SCOTUS justices overturning Roe

has worked out so well for them...

[Trueblue1968]

89. us Grannies and graqndpas will take to the streets to get our SOCIAL SECURITY & Medicare

I am OLD, hear me roar !!!