The Austerity Push Is A Repeat Of History
President Barack Obama launching the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform in 2010. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Twelve years after their “entitlement reform” commission, will Dems again help Republicans try to cut Social Security?
by David Sirota
If you want to understand one of the many real dangers of Republicans winning the midterms, then just go back a dozen years to see what happened to the politics of Social Security when the Democratic White House last lost Congress to the Republicans.
Then remember that the Democratic president this time around isn’t some newbie just starting to toy with the idea of cutting benefits. The Oval Office occupant is a career politician who has spent much of his adult life pushing Social Security and Medicare cuts using the same “entitlement reform” language that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) began floating this week during a televised debate with Sen. Bernie Sanders (Ind.-Vt.).
Emboldened by Graham’s comments, Democrats are now using their megaphone to try to scandalize his statements, in which he first blamed the federal debt on social safety net programs, and then declared that “entitlement reform is a must.”
“Republicans Are Coming for Medicare and Social Security,” blared the Democratic National Committee, which warned that “it’s clear Republicans are laying the groundwork to gut Medicare and Social Security — further raising the stakes of this November’s elections.”
“Senate Republicans are explaining in their own words why their candidates should not be elected,” said a press release from Senate Democrats’ campaign arm. “Their toxic agenda would put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block, ripping away seniors’ hard earned benefits — and it will lead their campaigns to defeat in November.”
President Joe Biden chimed in, tweeting: “How well are you going to sleep at night knowing that every five years Ted Cruz and other Congressional Republicans pushing ultra-MAGA policies are going to vote on whether you’ll have Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid?”
The optimist might see this instant pushback as proof that after decades of fetishizing bipartisanship and neoliberal dalliances with social safety net cuts, Democrats have learned their lesson and are finally backing off proposals to cut the two most popular programs their party ever created.
A more jaded realist might see Democrats’ defense of safety net programs a bit differently: as a short-term political tactic, but one that signifies no real change in what a Democratic White House would actually do right after a midterm blowout.
The Last Time Around
Let’s remember: A dozen years before Graham was roasted for his recent comments, President Barack Obama and Vice President Biden held a ceremony at the White House to announce a commission to try to slash Social Security and Medicare.