Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), chairman of the House Budget Committee, has dropped hints over the past few weeks that his committee will be discussing changes to Social Security throughout this legislative session.
The discussed changes could include means testing, raising the retirement age, and privatization.
In mid-January, Price said this at an event, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
What I’m hopeful is what the Budget Committee will be able do is to is begin to normalize the discussion and debate about Social Security. This is a program that right now on its current course will not be able to provide 75 or 80 percent of the benefits that individuals have paid into in a relatively short period of time. That’s not a responsible position to say, ‘You don’t need to do anything to do it.’
“So all the kinds of things you know about – whether it’s means testing, whether it’s increasing the age of eligibility. The kind of choices — whether it’s providing much greater choices for individuals to voluntarily select the kind of manner in which they believe they ought to be able to invest their working dollars as they go through their lifetime. All those things ought to be on the table and discussed.”
He urged his fellow Republicans not to fear the possible political fallout of the changes – seniors vote, and Social Security cuts are unpopular – but instead push forward to “save, secure and strengthen” the program.
Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance of Retired Americans, weighed in: “With Chairman Price’s comments this week, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hinting at a Grand Bargain last week, there definitely seems to be a House-Senate consensus and a plan to cut Social Security.”
Photo by Mark Taylor via Flickr CC License
