{"id":1027998,"date":"2023-11-06T16:38:24","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T16:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1027998"},"modified":"2023-11-06T16:38:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T16:38:24","slug":"icymi-cnn-heres-why-social-security-and-medicare-advocates-fear-mike-johnsons-speakership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-cnn-heres-why-social-security-and-medicare-advocates-fear-mike-johnsons-speakership\/","title":{"rendered":"ICYMI: CNN: Here\u2019s Why Social Security and Medicare Advocates Fear Mike Johnson\u2019s Speakership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-9.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1027999\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Point: <\/strong>\u201cHowever, advocates contend the committee\u2019s proposals are veiled attempts to cut benefits by raising the retirement age and making the benefits less generous, among other changes. [&#8230;] \u2018The new speaker has made it clear he\u2019s not a friend to seniors, Social Security or Medicare,\u2019 said Max Richtman, CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. \u2018His answer to Social Security\u2019s long-range solvency is cutting benefits.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/11\/05\/politics\/mike-johnson-social-security-medicare\/index.html\"><strong>CNN<\/strong><\/a><strong>: Here\u2019s why Social Security and Medicare advocates fear Mike Johnson\u2019s speakership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By Tami Luhby<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In one of his first moves after being elected House speaker, Mike Johnson promised to form a bipartisan debt commission to tackle what he termed \u201cthe greatest threat to our national security.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The announcement sent shivers down the spines of advocates for Social Security and Medicare.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>That\u2019s because when Johnson chaired the Republican Study Committee a few years ago, the conservative group called for a variety of changes to the entitlement programs that it argued would save them from insolvency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>However, advocates contend the committee\u2019s proposals are veiled attempts to cut benefits by raising the retirement age and making the benefits less generous, among other changes.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Republican Study Committee has long advocated making major changes to the entitlement programs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Its fiscal year 2020 budget plan, which was issued when Johnson helmed the group, included a number of controversial proposals. It called for raising the full retirement age to 69, up from 67, and the early retirement age to 64, up from 62.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As for Medicare, the group would raise the eligibility age to match that of Social Security\u2019s full retirement age and then index it to life expectancy. It would increase premiums and provide what it called \u201cpremium support\u201d \u2013 which critics deride as vouchers \u2013 to allow enrollees to buy private health insurance plans.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>These changes, among others, would cut spending on Social Security by $756 billion over a decade and on Medicare by $1.9 trillion, according to the budget plan.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Johnson now has the power to have the House take up these issues, though finding bipartisan solutions remains a long shot.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Advocates, however, argue that lawmakers can hide behind the debt commission and avoid taking individual blame for agreeing to benefit cuts.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>\u201cThe new speaker has made it clear he\u2019s not a friend to seniors, Social Security or Medicare,\u201d said Max Richtman, CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. \u201cHis answer to Social Security\u2019s long-range solvency is cutting benefits.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>President Joe Biden is also seeking the opportunity to tie Johnson to reducing benefits. A Biden campaign spokesperson released a statement after Johnson\u2019s election saying the new speaker wants to \u201cgut Social Security and Medicare.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Point: \u201cHowever, advocates contend the committee\u2019s proposals are veiled attempts to cut benefits by raising the retirement age and making the benefits less generous, among other changes. [&#8230;] \u2018The new speaker has made it clear he\u2019s not a friend to seniors, Social Security or Medicare,\u2019 said Max Richtman, CEO of the National Committee to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1027998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>ICYMI: CNN: Here\u2019s Why Social Security and Medicare Advocates Fear Mike Johnson\u2019s Speakership - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-cnn-heres-why-social-security-and-medicare-advocates-fear-mike-johnsons-speakership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-06T16:38:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image-9.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-cnn-heres-why-social-security-and-medicare-advocates-fear-mike-johnsons-speakership\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-cnn-heres-why-social-security-and-medicare-advocates-fear-mike-johnsons-speakership\/\",\"name\":\"ICYMI: CNN: Here\u2019s Why Social Security and Medicare Advocates Fear Mike Johnson\u2019s Speakership - 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