GUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE - THE GOP’S AGENDA IF THEY WIN

No Republican candidate running in 2022 says it upfront. 

But read between the lines in recent remarks by Kevin McCarthy, and you’ll see that hacking back Social Security and Medicare remains very much the party’s intent, if they win the House on November 8.

Under the guise of “reducing spending” or “cutting inflation”, a victorious  GOP would likely use a majority in the House to refuse to raise the debt ceiling in early 2023 unless Democrats agree to eviscerate Social Security and Medicare. In short, they want to hold the economy hostage while ramming through immensely unpopular and unfair hidden agenda items they’ve harbored for years. This would produce  catastrophic implications for financial markets, job creation, consumer spending, and economic growth -- as well as result in millions of seniors falling inescapably into poverty.                                            

A realistic possibility? Look at history. Republicans have played poisonous games with the economy many times before. While they voted to increase the debt ceiling three times under Trump, they consistently stood in the way of Barack Obama on the same issue, playing brinksmanship to the point that US bonds were downgraded by rating agencies for the first time in history. While no one wants to believe our elected representatives would put the nation at risk, we have only to look at recent threats to our democracy, including January 6, launched by Trump acolytes. With the GOP, very little is off the table.

A Republican victory in this election could leave us with two equally undesirable choices. Either defaulting on our debt and setting off a crisis with vast and unpredictable economic outcomes , starting with a severe fiscal downturn. Or subjecting seniors who are dependent upon government support programs (and associated cost of living increases championed by Dems) to an economic hell.

Maintaining a Democratic majority in the House and Senate will, on the other hand, deliver further dramatic success in controlling inflation and building growth—and without putting seniors in peril by dismantling critical social programs.

As a country, we deserve—and should settle for—nothing less.

Vote to Protect Our Seniors! Vote Democratic Up and Down the Ballot!