WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) penned a Letter to the Editor in the Washington Post echoing the Editorial Board’s statement that neither leading presidential candidate has a plan to address the fast-approaching insolvency of Social Security and Medicare and that Americans cannot expect an honest debate during the 2024 campaign.
“Neither candidate is willing to participate in the honest conversation our leaders must have to save our seniors from an automatic 21 percent Social Security benefit cut in 2033 or a devastating Medicare cut in 2036,” wrote Dr. Cassidy.
Cassidy highlighted that there has been a bipartisan solution, also known as the “Big Idea”, proposed in the Senate. The “Big Idea” would prevent the 21% Social Security benefit cut coming in 2033 according to the latest projections from the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.
“I, along with a bipartisan group of 14 colleagues, want to invest $1.5 trillion into an investment fund separate from the Social Security Trust Fund. The fund would be invested into the U.S. economy, and any dividends would be reinvested and kept in escrow for 70 years. With the assumption that the rate of return follows historical averages, this plan would address the majority of the shortfall and allow us to pay promised benefits. No senior would see any cut in benefits,” continued Dr. Cassidy.
“Doing nothing is the greatest threat to both programs. And acting need not be politically toxic. President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Thomas P. ‘Tip’ O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) worked together in the 1980s to address Social Security’s solvency… They achieved this bipartisan compromise the year before both were reelected in 1984, proving that voters will reward doing the right thing,” concluded Dr. Cassidy.
Read the full letter here or below.
Why is Social Security Foundering? ‘Something is not Right Here.’
Regarding the May 7 editorial, “The crisis neither candidate wants to deal with”:
The Editorial Board’s recent headline embodied what I have repeatedly said — neither President Biden nor former president Donald Trump has a plan to address the fast-approaching insolvency of Social Security and Medicare. And The Post hit the mark by saying Americans shouldn’t expect “much honest debate” on either issue from either candidate during the 2024 campaign.
Mr. Biden has one talking point for all government shortfalls — raise taxes. He proposed this for Medicare in his fiscal 2024 budget. But this does not change the overall trajectory of Medicare spending, the real source of stress on this program. It’s likely Mr. Biden will try to tap the same well — Americans’ paychecks — to keep Social Security funded. Mr. Trump’s talking point for both programs is just as grim: Don’t touch them. Neither candidate is willing to participate in the honest conversation our leaders must have to save our seniors from an automatic 21 percent Social Security benefit cut in 2033 or a devastating Medicare cut in 2036.
While the Editorial Board rightly pointed out that the only hope for either program is a bipartisan solution, it failed to highlight the only bipartisan solution that has actually been proposed.
I, along with a bipartisan group of 14 colleagues, want to invest $1.5 trillion into an investment fund separate from the Social Security Trust Fund. The fund would be invested into the U.S. economy, and any dividends would be reinvested and kept in escrow for 70 years. With the assumption that the rate of return follows historical averages, this plan would address the majority of the shortfall and allow us to pay promised benefits. No senior would see any cut in benefits.
We know this idea works. The model already rescued the Federal Railroad Retirement System and is in use by pension plans around the world.
Doing nothing is the greatest threat to both programs. And acting need not be politically toxic. President Ronald Reagan and House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) worked together in the 1980s to address Social Security’s solvency. They did so by slowly raising the retirement age on younger workers, increasing the wage base to which Social Security tax applied without raising rates and requiring federal employees to pay into Social Security. They achieved this bipartisan compromise the year before both were reelected in 1984, proving that voters will reward doing the right thing.
Background
Cassidy led a bipartisan working group to preserve and protect Social Security. Last spring, he released the inaugural Bill on the Hill video where he asked Capitol Hill visitors from across the country their thoughts on the looming benefit cuts to Social Security and presented his “Big Idea” to save, strengthen, and secure America’s retirement system.
Cassidy has discussed the “Big Idea” at a public forum with AARP on the future of Social Security, outlined his Social Security plan in a fireside chat with the Bipartisan Policy Committee, and authored an op-ed in the National Review, Washington Examiner, and Wall Street Journal, and State Affairs.
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