Washington D.C. – Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been making dubious declarations in recent days that Social Security and Medicare cuts are ‘off the table’ in the MAGA-run U.S. House of Representatives. Such claims are unsurprising in the face of polls showing such cuts are the number one worry among voters. But a review of recent statements of House Republicans from government watchdog Accountable.US finds a growing number of House Republicans – more than enough to block legislative action – have openly threatened to use the debt ceiling as leverage to hold the economy hostage in exchange for substantial cuts to entitlements, including direct and deep benefit cuts by raising the retirement age for seniors. 

At best, Kevin McCarthy is making promises he can’t keep as a critical mass of extreme MAGA House Republicans are demanding deep cuts to popular Social Security and Medicare benefits in exchange for not cratering the economy purposely with a manufactured debt default crisis. At worse, the Speaker is intentionally deceiving the public of the MAGA majority’s intent of ending the guarantee of Social and Medicare benefits earned through a lifetime of hard work – finishing a job previous Republican-led Congresses have tried numerous times before. Unfortunately for Speaker McCarthy, too many of his MAGA colleagues have said the quiet part out loud: that earned benefits are very much on the chopping block.

There’s no denying MAGA extremists in Congress are eager to use the debt they exacerbated with tax breaks for wealthy corporations as an excuse to threaten the health and retirement security of millions of hard-working Americans. The MAGA majority’s economic plan is clear: deep cuts to earned benefits for seniors and working people while protecting or even expanding wasteful tax breaks for billionaires and giant corporations. MAGA extremists want to break the promise of guaranteed benefits that have kept generations of seniors out of poverty rather than asking greedy corporations and wealthy donors to pay their fair share. No matter how they spin it, raising the retirement age for seniors amounts to devastating and deep benefit cuts. Why should seniors, including those who do physically demanding jobs, be forced to tough it out for a few more years before retirement so wealthy special interests can keep their tax giveaways?"

Accountable.US’ Director of Economic Security and Corporate Power, Liz Zelnick

MAGA Majority On Recent Record Calling for Shredding Social Safety Net

Additional House Republicans have stated that “everything has to be on the table” when it comes to budget cuts:

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