Social Security Under Threat?

Only from Republicans.

Emergency wake-up call: Social Security is on the ballot in November. Republicans are out to kill it.

Eighty-nine years ago, our grandparents created Social Security to assure seniors a decent retirement. It’s the most popular American government program ever. It has saved tens of millions from the poorhouse. President Dwight Eisenhower warned that any political party that tried to harm Social Security would never be heard of again.

Yet destroying Social Security is exactly what Trump and the Republicans have in mind.

The now-universally-accepted blueprint for a second Trump administration, “Project 2025” by the Heritage Foundation, essentially proposes privatizing Social Security, by creating “Universal Savings Accounts” to “allow Americans to save and invest as they see fit” (here, at 696). It insists on immediately balancing the federal budget by driving down federal spending (702) – the largest category of which, obviously, is Social Security. Most Republicans in Congress – the House Republican Study Committee – have endorsed raising the eligibility age, which would amount to cutting benefits by one-third, and transforming it into essentially a welfare program.

And mandating a balanced budget every year, ignoring the trillions of dollars paid into the separate Social Security trust fund by everyday Americans out of every paycheck, would destroy Social Security.

In the infamous June Trump/Biden debate, Trump bizarrely accused Biden of “destroying” Social Security by giving it to “millions” of undocumented immigrants (who are “living in luxury hotels”). This is an incredible lie: undocumented workers are forced to pay into the system, but are not allowed to collect benefits – making them a net positive contributor to Social Security’s finances.

Trump has already warned us that his second term would bring cuts to Social Security, though he now insists otherwise. Just before he lost the 2020 election, he proposed to convert Social Security into a welfare program, by permanently terminating the payroll tax system which funds it. Wisconsin Republican US Senator Ron Johnson amplified this, calling Social Security a fraudulent “Ponzi scheme” (echoing Trump’s own gripe earlier) and proposing to end its guarantee of an earned retirement benefit, and instead leave it to Congress’s whim to pass, cut or kill every year.

It’s true that, under current plans, Social Security will start having solvency problems by 2034 (according to the Social Security Administration), with retirees taking out more than current workers are putting in. To close this gap, there are obviously only two solutions – cutting payout or increasing revenues. The Republicans in their budget acknowledge this, but they absolutely reject any whiff of the latter (here at 87-88).

For a sustainable Social Security, taking revenues off the table is two things: 1) insanity, and 2) unshakeable Republican orthodoxy.

Project 2025 is a “blueprint for a second Trump term,” which means cuts to Social Security, as President Biden has warned. But as Vice President Harris says, the only logical solution is to expand Social Security benefits by making “the rich pay their fair share.”

What does this mean? Well, today the wealthiest Americans are protected from paying the same rate into Social Security as everyone else. It’s incredible. In 2024, earned income over $168,600 is totally exempt from payroll taxes. That means that the CEO making $10 million stops paying the 6.2 percent payroll tax after the first week of the year, while his janitor pays 6.2 percent for the entire year. That’s an outrageous affront to ordinary working people throughout America.

Make everybody pay the same rate, rich or poor. Making the ultra-wealthy pay will keep Social Security solvent for everybody, indefinitely.

There are numerous proposals to maintain and expand Social Security – not by cutting benefits, but by raising revenues from the very wealthy. There’s a plan by nearly 200 House Democrats, and a Senate bill, to extend solvency for more than 100 years and increase benefits.

Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah gleefully proclaimed on video that he would like nothing more than to “phase out Social Security, to pull it up by the roots, and get rid of it!”

Democrats today fight incessantly to protect Social Security. Our grandparents would back them 100 percent. This is an unshakeable permanent compact with American workers. There is no problem that cannot be solved by making the rich pay their fair share.

It’s a no-brainer. The ultra-rich can singlehandedly save Social Security. Republicans ought to be ashamed.

 

James Roosevelt, Jr., grandson of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, is a former associate commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Henry Scott Wallace, grandson of Henry A. Wallace, FDR’s Vice President and Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce, is co-chair of the Wallace Global Fund. June Hopkins, granddaughter of Harry Hopkins, FDR’s Secretary of Commerce, is a professor of History Emerita at Georgia Southern University. Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall, grandson of FDR’s Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, who chaired the committee that designed Social Security and on which both Wallace and Hopkins served, is founder of the Frances Perkins Center.

 

21st Century New Deal

Mission Statement

To restore New Deal values of a government that acts for the many rather than the wealthy few.

About

As descendants of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the men and women who helped him design the New Deal of the 1930s, we believe in the responsibility of the federal government, in concert with state and local governments, to create 21st Century-styled New Deal programs that will provide economic and social justice for all, regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, or economic status. 

These must include progressive taxation that asks the rich and corporations to pay their fair share, an unencumbered right to vote, an urgent transition to a clean energy economy, and access to affordable education and decent-paying employment, including subsidized federal jobs programs in tough times, recognizing that gainful employment is the foundation of economic security, optimal health, personal dignity, and a stronger democracy.  In collaboration with allied groups, we seek to educate, empower, and support elected officials and community groups in creating a society that is more just, caring, and inclusive. 

 
 

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OUR MESSAGE

 

WE ENVISION:

 

1. Transitional jobs for every American that wants one.

2. Expanded Unemployment Insurance to protect American workers as they search for new employment.

3. Higher minimum wage and stronger union protections for American workers.

4. Robust earning supplements in the form of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC).

5. Paid leave and childcare for all American workers and their families. 

6. Health insurance reform that includes universal coverage, good benefits, choice of health care providers, fair financing, and cost control.

7. Urgent action to fight the climate crisis, including a total transition away from fossil fuels, with a focus on jobs in renewable energy and climate mitigation and adaptation, such as through a well-funded Civilian Climate Corps.

8. Progressive taxation requiring the wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share. 

9. Educational action that addresses racial disparities, student debt, and prepares our workforce for the jobs of the 21st-century economy.

10. Voting made easier rather than more difficult, with no partisan political manipulation or interference, and no racial or economic bias.