President Biden has elevated the protection of Social Security and Medicare into a major theme of his not-yet-announced re-election campaign, but he hasn’t matched his rhetoric with robust solvency plans. That disconnect might have left him vulnerable politically but for the even-less-convincing answers from the GOP. In a stand-off of non-plans and half-baked schemes, the advantage will likely go to the party the public presumes is aligned with its interests on these questions, which has been the Democrats for many years.
The president’s State of the Union address featured his strong opposition to all Social Security and Medicare “cuts” and commitment to their financial resilience, but the budget he released last week only addressed Medicare’s approaching solvency challenge. With Social Security’s trust funds projected to run through their reserves over the next dozen years or so, the absence of a concrete Biden plan to protect all benefits promised under the program’s current rules might have been attacked as neglect of a solemn responsibility.
The trouble for Republicans is that they have nothing worthwhile to say on Social Security either. The president baited many current GOP Senators and House members into swearing off benefit adjustments, and yet most of them also have signed pledges to never raise taxes. So, if they are ever asked what they would do to push back Social Security insolvency, they appear to be squarely in the “not saying” camp too. That’s a win for Biden and the Democrats, who, even though they have no clear way forward themselves, are seen by most voters as acting in good faith and genuinely committed to protecting all benefits insofar as that is an attainable goal.
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