Biden Warns GOP Wants Social Security 'Sliced'

Plus, Medicaid expansion in North Carolina ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [The Fisc](   By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey Happy Monday and welcome to the dog days of August. Congress is out until September and President Joe Biden remains on a family vacation in South Carolina’s Kiawah Island — though he’ll be back in the White House Tuesday to sign the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Democrats’ party-line package of climate, health care and tax measures. In a statement Monday, the White House also said that Biden will soon host a cabinet meeting focused on implementation of the new law and will hold other events to celebrate the legislation, including an event on September 6, the day after Labor Day. Here's what’s happening. (Reuters) As Social Security Turns 87, Biden Warns That Republicans Want to Cut It President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935, and Democratic leaders on Monday celebrated the 87th anniversary of that monumental event – while warning that Republicans want to tear new holes in the wildly popular and remarkably effective safety net program. In a [video]( President Joe Biden celebrated the birthday sitting in front of a cake, while praising Social Security, which he said he wants to protect and expand, for allowing senior citizens to “retire with dignity.” He also patted himself and his team on the back for the American Rescue Plan and the strength of the U.S. economic recovery, which boosted employment much faster than expected, providing more payments into the Social Security trust funds and thereby providing a little more breathing room before those trust funds become insolvent. At the same time, Biden warned that Republicans want to put Social Security “on the chopping block” by sunsetting the program every five years. Biden was referring to a proposal by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) to do just that — though without noting that Scott’s plan has been rejected by other members of the Republican leadership in the Senate, most notably Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Nevertheless, Biden played up the partisan differences. “Let me ask you, have you ever seen the Republicans on Capitol Hill do anything to protect or increase or to benefit Social Security?” he asked. “So here’s the deal, with Democrats in Congress, you get stronger Social Security because you paid for it and you deserve it. With Republicans in Congress, it’s probably going to get sliced.” Pelosi joins in: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also celebrated the anniversary — and warned about the plans of the opposition party. “Today, tens of millions of Americans rely on their hard-earned Social Security checks to get by each month,” she said in a [statement](. “Many more are counting on those benefits as they work toward a well-deserved retirement. Rather than safeguarding and strengthening these essential benefits, extreme MAGA Republicans are seeking to destroy Social Security as we know it.” Pelosi referred to a separate Republican plan that would fundamentally change how the Social Security system operates. “A majority of House Republicans are rallying around a budget that would hike the retirement age, slash benefits and push privatization – turning Social Security benefits over to Wall Street,” she said. “Some in the Senate want to go even further: putting Social Security funding on the chopping block every year and subjecting retirees to constant uncertainty.” Pelosi was referring to recent comments by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who suggested that Social Security and Medicare should be reclassified as discretionary spending, which would have to be approved by Congress annually. “What we ought to be doing is we ought to turn everything into discretionary spending so it's all evaluated, so we can fix problems or fix programs that are broken, that are going to be going bankrupt,” Johnson said in a radio interview early this month. “Because again, as long as things are on automatic pilot, we just continue to pile up debt." Republicans respond: Mark Bednar, a spokesman for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told Fox News that it is “rich that President Biden is pointing the finger at others,” arguing that Biden has fueled inflation that will cost Social Security. “The result is the trust fund is draining even faster, without any real benefit to seniors, and forcing the program into bankruptcy sooner.” Quote of the Day “I think the most controversial part of Obamacare was always the Obama part.” — Don Taylor, a professor of public policy at Duke University, [talking to]( Politico’s Lisa Rab about growing support for Medicaid expansion in North Carolina. While Democrats have long supported it, a significant number of Republican legislators in the state have dropped their opposition to the expansion as allowed by the Affordable Care Act, a move that would provide health coverage to more than half a million low-income people in the state. “North Carolina’s really accidentally doing bipartisan health reform,” Taylor said. “Exactly what the motivations are, it’s very hard to figure.” Taylor appears to have spoken too soon, though. A tentative agreement this summer between the upper and lower chambers of the North Carolina state legislature that would have expanded Medicaid fell through at the last minute, Axios’s Lucille Sherman [reports]( Monday, due in large part to opposition from the state’s hospital industry, which fears the expansion might hurt its revenues. For now, North Carolina remains one of 12 states that have refused to expand Medicaid, though some legislators still hope that will change in the next legislative session. “There remains a window to get something done," Republican Senate leader Phil Berger told Axios. “But quite frankly, as long as the hospitals remain as intransigent as they are, I don't see that we're going to make any progress.” Number of the Day: $134 Billion Bloomberg’s Nic Querolo [reports]( that U.S. school districts are raising their spending: “On average, school district expenses rose 5.4% in fiscal 2023 from a year earlier, according to an analysis of 118 district budgets by Burbio, a Pelham, New York-based company that tracks school data. The gains follow a 10.8% increase between fiscal years 2022 and 2021. In total, the districts plan to spend $134 billion in the upcoming school year, up from $126 billion the previous year.” --------------------------------------------------------------- Send your feedback to yrosenberg@thefiscaltimes.com. And please encourage your friends to [sign up here]( for their own copy of this newsletter. --------------------------------------------------------------- News - [Biden, Democrats Plan Grand Celebration Next Month of Inflation Reduction Act]( – Washington Post - [The Inflation Reduction Act Is a Climate Bill. 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