WASHINGTON – A symbolic Republican budget proposal introduced this week includes cuts to future Social Security retirement benefits, despite former President Donald Trump’s pledge to leave the program untouched.
The Republican Study Committee, a group encompassing a majority of GOP House members, put out a budget outline on Wednesday calling for spending reductions in Social Security and Medicare.
The proposal calls for “modest changes” to Social Security benefits “for individuals who are not near retirement,” according to a one-paragraph summary in the study committee’s outline.
“It would also make modest adjustments to the retirement age for future retirees to account for increases in life expectancy,” the summary says, offering no further specifics.
President Joe Biden trashed the proposal in a Thursday statement.
“The Republican Study Committee budget shows what Republicans value,” Biden said. “This extreme budget will cut Medicare, Social Security, and the Affordable Care Act. It endorses a national abortion ban.”
The current eligibility age for full Social Security benefits is 67 for anyone born after 1959. Increasing the retirement age amounts to reducing benefits for future retirees, though Republicans stressed that the proposal wouldn’t affect anyone currently nearing retirement.
Republican Study Committee chair Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) said Thursday he believed Trump agreed with the RSC’s position.
“I think what you’re hearing President Trump say is exactly what we’re saying, because we’re not going to do anything to harm anybody that’s near retirement or in retirement,” Hern told reporters at a press conference.
Though the RSC’s budget is not legislation but just a theoretical framework designed to show that Republicans actually do care about balancing the budget, a similar proposal in last year’s outline became a political flashpoint in actual budget negotiations between President Biden and former House…
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