Democrats seize on a GOP budget proposal that would raise Social Security retirement age

In a deeply polarized election year, President Biden and fellow Democrats wasted little time lambasting a budget proposal from a large group of House Republicans that would, among other things, raise the retirement age for Social Security and endorse a bill that would codify that life begins at conception.

The fiscal 2025 budget proposal was released Wednesday by the Republican Study Committee — a bloc that includes 80 percent of Republicans in the House, including every member of House leadership. RSC’s proposed budget was released weeks after House Republicans advanced the conference’s official budget plan out of committee.

While the proposal from the Republican faction is unlikely to become law, it offers insight into how Republicans could seek to govern if they win control of Congress and the White House in the 2024 elections. The White House, Democratic lawmakers and political groups hoping to elect more Democrats in November seized on the issue.

Biden called RSC’s proposal “extreme” in a statement Thursday and said it “shows what Republicans value.”

“Let me be clear: I will stop them,” he added.

The White House also circulated a document among reporters about the RSC plan, saying it “cuts Medicare and Social Security while putting health care at risk for millions,” and “rigs the economy for the wealthy and large corporations against middle class families.”

On the Senate floor Thursday morning, Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the RSC proposal “reads like a wish list for Donald Trump and the MAGA hard right.”

“The Republican Study Committee plan is cruel. It is fringe, way out of line with what most Americans want. But unfortunately it is what the House Republicans envision for our country,” he continued.

The RSC proposal, which the committee dubbed “Fiscal Sanity to Save America,” endorses “modest adjustments to the retirement age for future retirees to account for increases in life expectancy” and says benefits should be lowered for the highest-earning beneficiaries.