Press Releases
Watchdog: Omnibus Fight Foreshadows the MAGA Extremist Agenda Including Social Security & Medicare Benefit Cuts
Washington D.C. – After Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy and other MAGA Extremists refused to come to the table, the Senate advanced a bipartisan government spending bill that funds critical priorities including much-needed boosts to Pell Grants and to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program as utility companies hiked home heating prices by 18% in late 2022. McCarthy, a MAGA extremist running a tough race for Speaker of the House, pledged to oppose the omnibus and cut necessary spending next year, despite Republican support for the wasteful Trump tax cuts for big corporations and billionaires that have been projected to explode the national debt by up to $2 trillion. Fortunately, the omnibus bill does not include the irresponsible Trump corporate tax cuts – allowing the provisions that rewarded dozens of America’s largest corporations with $50 billion in tax breaks over the last three years despite rampant corporate profiteering at the expense of consumers to expire. Government watchdog Accountable.US called the rhetoric this week from MAGA extremists decrying necessary government funding a trial run for their proposals to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits next year.
The bill now advances to the House where MAGA extremists are expected to vote against the measure.
MAGA extremists in Congress are dusting off an old conservative playbook for when they seize power – using the deficit they created with irresponsible tax breaks for billionaires and greedy corporations as an excuse to gut Social Security and Medicare benefits for America’s seniors and working people. The same MAGA Republicans feigning indignation about spending today stood silent as their deficit-busting Trump tax breaks rewarded highly-profitable corporations that have gouged working families on everything from gas to groceries. This is what Americans are in store for next year: MAGA extremists serving the interests of billionaires, profiteering corporations, and other special interests while asking everyone else to pay for it.”
Liz Zelnick, Director of Accountable.US’ Economic Security & Corporate Power program
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- In June 2022, The Republican Study Committee—”The Largest Group Of House Republicans”—Released A Budget Calling For Several Cuts To Medicare And Social Security, Including Increasing The Age Of Eligibility To 67 For Medicare And 70 For Social Security. “The Republican Study Committee, the largest group of House Republicans, released a budget plan in June that called on lawmakers to gradually raise the Medicare age of eligibility to 67 and the Social Security eligibility to 70 before indexing both to life expectancy. It backed withholding payments to those who retired early and had earnings over a certain limit. And it endorsed the consideration of options to reduce payroll taxes that fund Social Security and redirect them to private alternatives. It also urged lawmakers to ‘phase-in an increase in means testing’ for Medicare.” [Bloomberg Government, 10/11/22]
- During A 2022 Meeting Of Republican Members Of The House Ways And Means Committee, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) Admitted Republicans Would “‘All Get Thrown Out Of Office [If] We Told The Truth’ About Their Party’s Plans For Social Security.” “That somewhat Zen-like pronouncement came from Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) during a recent video discussion of Social Security with Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee. Kelly warned that Republicans would ‘all get thrown out of office [if] we told the truth’ about their party’s plans for Social Security, calling it ‘political suicide.’” [The American Prospect, 10/25/22]