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April 13, 2013 |
John Boehner, Speaker of the House, revealed why it's politically
naive for the president to offer up cuts in Social Security in the hope
of getting Republicans to close some tax loopholes for the rich. "If the
president believes these modest entitlement savings are needed to help
shore up these programs, there's no reason they should be held hostage
for more tax hikes," Boehner said in a
statement released Friday.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor agreed. He
said on
CNBC he didn't understand "why we just don't see the White House come
forward and do the things that we agree on" such as cutting Social
Security, without additional tax increases.
Get it? The Republican leadership is already salivating over the
president's proposed Social Security cut. They've been wanting to cut
Social Security for years.
But they won't agree to close tax loopholes for the rich.
They're already characterizing the president's plan as a way to
"save" Social Security -- even though the cuts would undermine it -- and
they're embracing it as an act of "bi-partisanship."
"I'm encouraged by any steps that President Obama is taking to save and preserve Social Security,"
cooed Texas
Republican firebrand Ted Cruz. "I think it should be a bipartisan
priority to strengthen Social Security and Medicare to preserve the
benefits for existing seniors."
Oh, please. Social Security hasn't contributed to the budget deficit.
And it's solvent for the next two decades. (If we want to insure its
solvency beyond that, the best fix is to lift the cap on income subject
to Social Security taxes -- now $113,700.)
And the day Ted Cruz agrees to raise taxes on the wealthy or even close a tax loophole will be when Texas freezes over.
The president is scheduled to dine with a dozen Senate Republicans
Wednesday night. Among those attending will be John Boozman of Arkansas,
who has already
praised Obama for "starting to throw things on the table," like the Social Security cuts.
That's exactly the problem. The president throws things on the table before the Republicans have even sat down for dinner.
The president's predilection for negotiating with himself is not new.
But his willingness to do it with Social Security, the government's
most popular program -- which Democrats have protected from Republican
assaults for almost eighty years -- doesn't bode well.
The president desperately wants a "grand bargain" on the deficit. Republicans know he does. Watch your wallets.
Robert B. Reich has served in
three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor
under President Bill Clinton. He also served on President Obama's
transition advisory board. His latest book is Aftershock: The Next
Economy and America's Future. His homepage is
www.robertreich.org.
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