While Social Security has become something of a hot topic on the presidential campaign trail, right now, Senator Bill Cassidy is one of the only members of Congress who is consistently talking about the program. While this appears at first glance to be a laudatory effort, the senator should be careful not to do anything that ultimately harms Louisiana seniors.
Senator Cassidy has been beating the drum on Social Security for months now, posting about the program nearly every day on his social media accounts. Although both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have both publicly promised to protect Social Security without cuts or raising the retirement age, Senator Cassidy points out that neither of them have offered a plan on how to actually do that. Meanwhile, Senator Cassidy says he’s concerned that Social Security is heading for insolvency within the next decade, and he has recently been focused on finding a real solution without making cuts to Social Security or raising the retirement age.
Senator Cassidy has found a partner in Senator Angus King to find a solution. That solution involves placing $1.5 trillion in a separate investment fund over the course of five years. The investment would be held in escrow for 70 years, with the goal being to grow the fund 8.5% a year over a 75 year period. Senator Cassidy has said this would cover 75% of Social Security’s projected shortfall. He admitted it wouldn’t completely fix the problem, but he emphasized that he’s willing to negotiate on his idea’s shortcomings and made it clear he wants to keep the early retirement age at 62.
We need more information to better understand the impact this plan will have on seniors. We also need more data in order to evaluate how this plan compares to some of the other proposals we’ve seen, including raising the retirement age, like presidential hopeful and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s call to raise the retirement age for people currently in their twenties.
As Social Security receives greater scrutiny on the campaign trail and in Congress, it’s important that any elected official or anyone seeking to become an elected official guarantee that there are no cuts to Social Security or limits those who can receive it.
Advertisement
Senator Cassidy may not be the one who saves Social Security, but he appears to be looking for a solution to some of the issues facing the program. In his attempts to do that, he needs to assure seniors who rely on this program that the benefits they’ve worked hard to receive will be protected.
Matt Mackowiak is the president of Potomac Strategy Group, a Republican consultant, a former Bush administration official, a Bush-Cheney re-election campaign veteran and a former press secretary to two U.S. Senators.
Advertisement
Advertisement