The GOP hasn’t made it’s plans to go after Social Security secret. In November, Marco Rubio was quite honest about plans to target SS once the massive corporate tax cut was passed. Republicans know Social Security is a popular institution, so the strategy is to increase the red tape to turn public opinion against the program.
The GOP claim that the Social Security contributes to our ballooning deficit, when it’s actually self sufficient. Of every dollar Americans put into our SS savings account, only 7/10 of a penny goes towards administering the program. Despite that stellar ratio, Republicans have been slashing the minuscule operating budget since 2010 when they gained power in Congress.
Republicans want you to think SS is in trouble, but the numbers say otherwise. Social Security has a $2.8 trillion surplus, and ran a surplus of $35.2 billion in 2016 alone. There is no imminent gargantuan Baby Boomer crash coming. There is a minor projected shortfall decades away, which could be easily corrected with fair contributions from the most wealth Americans.
The Republican efforts to throw a wrench into a beloved program are having real effects on the Americans who paid in. The Baby Boomers began to turn 65 in 2011, right after the first round of Republican cuts. Since then, 10,000 boomers retire daily and the backlog for hearings has ballooned to 600 days. 64 district offices and 500 field offices have closed, hours have decreased and this creates long lines and ridiculous hold times for calls. This log jam equals success for the GOP’s goal of bad PR, frustration and misdirected anger towards a beloved benefit.
18,701 people have DIED while waiting to receive the benefits that they paid for. Widows with children, seniors in crisis, disabled workers, all real humans who have paid for these benefits are being put through anguish to collect what belongs to them. Now the GOP wants to cut a half billion more.
By Being Liberal contributor: Sarah Ficca
To learn more read, "Republicans Are Killing Social Security One Tiny Service Cut at a Time" written by Nancy J. Altman for Slate on January 22, 2018.