Bipartisan inaction
The State of the Union spat over Social Security and Medicare did nothing to protect these endangered programs from looming insolvency.
There was a truly bipartisan moment in President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address — of bipartisan irresponsibility, that is.
It came when Mr. Biden accused a small number of Republicans of proposing to “sunset” Social Security and Medicare. Republicans vociferously objected, prompting the president to finally say over the heckling, “So folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right?”
Fleeting political points aside, the exchange did nothing to fix the ticking time bomb under the nation’s two vital programs for senior citizens. The momentarily heated rhetoric only affirmed how politically toxic the idea of reforming these programs can be.
Yet reform is critical. The latest analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office last month projected that Social Security ’s trust funds are headed for insolvency by 2033. Without a fix of some kind, benefits would have to be cut 23 percent for the nearly 71 million Americans who depend to one degree or another on the program.
As for Medicare, its Part A program, which covers hospitalization and postacute care, is projected by its trustees to be insolvent by 2028. (Part B, which covers physician and other outpatient services, and Part D, which covers prescription drugs, are considered to be fairly self-sustaining.)
None of this is news to Congress or anyone else who’s been paying attention. The need to shore up these programs has been known for years. And yes, as Mr. Biden pointed out, some Republicans — no more than a handful, to be sure — have proposed overly simplistic, unpalatable ideas, particularly on Social Security, which conservatives have disdained from its start in 1935, branding it socialism or, more recently, a Ponzi scheme, as Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., terms it.
Johnson has suggested treating Social Security and Medicare as discretionary spending, which would make them subject to annual renewal and tinkering.
Similarly, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., pushed a plan under which all federal programs, including Social Security and Medicare, should sunset in five years, putting them up for recurring debate and hostagetaking. On Friday, Mr. Scott huffily rewrote his scheme as to exempt those entitlement programs, while unconvincingly insisting he had never in a million years intended to offer them up for cuts.
Americans can’t plan their retirements with at least a significant portion of their income and their ability to afford health care constantly in doubt. Nor should they have to keep fearing that these safety nets will vanish due to inaction — the path Congress and presidents across the political spectrum have taken until now, and the path they’ll keep taking as long as politicians keep treating them as too hot to touch.
Safeguarding these safety nets demands more than sniping that sends politicians scrambling for cover. What’s needed is bipartisan courage. That means both sides need to agree to engage in an honest look at the options — such as raising income and contribution limits, changing minimum eligibility and full retirement ages, and making the benefit formula more progressive based on income — and to commit to finding a solution together. And then own the success of that effort, just as they own what’s so far their mutual failure.