'What a terrible idea': Social Security cuts could doom GOP in November election

22 March 2024

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia), a major ally of 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, has made it clear that one of his goals as a Republican is to wipe out what's left of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal and President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society.

In 2016, Gingrich praised Trump's agenda as a "great effort to break out of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt model." And one of the New Deal programs of the 1930s that Gingrich has taken aim at is Social Security, which he would like to see privatized.

Other Republicans who speak of "reforming" Social Security aren't necessarily calling for its privatization, but do favor raising the retirement age. And some GOP strategists fear that being labeled anti-Social Security by Democrats could hurt their party in the November election.

In a report published on March 22, The Hill's Alexander Bolton describes GOP infighting over Social Security.

"Republicans pushing reforms to Social Security argue that raising the retirement age would not cut benefits and would be phased in slowly so as not to affect people near retirement age," Bolton reports. "But others in the party warn that talking about delaying Social Security benefits in an election year is political malpractice and would give Democrats a golden opportunity to accuse GOP candidates of wanting to cut Social Security."

The ultra-MAGA Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) is among the Republicans who vehemently opposes raising the retirement age.

Hawley told The Hill, "What a terrible idea. If Republicans want to be in the minority party forever, then go ahead and endorse that. Republicans are so stupid. If they want to go to working people and say, 'Congratulations, you have paid into this your whole life — your payroll taxes — and now, we're going to take part of it away from you, we're going to make you work even longer than we said beforehand,' I just think that's the stupidest thing I ever heard."

Similarly, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told The Hill, "It's a terrible idea to talk about adjustments to Social Security of any kind without having a full discussion of our mandatory and discretionary spending."

But Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has a very different view from Hawley.

Paul told The Hill, "Ultimately, if you want to save Social Security for the next generation, you have to reform it. Several ideas for reform are raising the age, means testing it, looking at the taxation. All of it has to be looked at; all of it has to be discussed — not because of anybody wants to cut Social Security, but because we want to try to save it for the next generation."

Read The Hill's full report at this link.

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