- Republicans want to cut the deficit and have proposed various areas to cut spending.
- Analysis by the Responsible Budgeting Commission found that significant cuts would be needed to balance the budget.
- In other words, if you raise taxes, defense spending, Social Security, and Medicare will remain off the agenda.
All attention now is on what Congress wants to spend or decides to scrape.
Republicans want to reduce the deficit, and Democrats seem open to it. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said the upcoming White House budget will result in “significant deficit reduction over the next decade.” ReutersDemocrats are ready to discuss cost-cutting measures with Republicans regardless of the debt ceiling.
But according to the Board of Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), if the government wants to get serious about spending, it will have to make some pretty drastic cuts.according to CRFB analysis, all government spending will need to be cut by 27% to balance the budget over the next decade. And with tax increases, defense spending, Social Security, and Medicare all off the table, we’ll need to cut spending by 78%. .
Mark Goldwain, senior policy director at the CRFB, told Insider, “This effectively excludes almost all governments outside of the military and programs for middle-class seniors. Do. “That’s not realistic.”
As new york times notes Visualizing the CRFB analysis, closing the gap between now and 2033 would require $16 trillion in spending cuts. This is the same size as Social Security as a whole, or Medicare as a whole and all anti-poverty programs.
“There are basically three huge programs in the government, and that’s the U.S. Army, Social Security, and Medicare,” Goldwayne said. I have writtenthe U.S. government is “best thought of as a giant insurance company with a military”.
With the military, Social Security, and Medicare out of the cut, it means other programs must be put in the cut block to balance the books. That means, as The New York Times reports, saying goodbye to things like visiting national parks and accessing food assistance programs.
“The idea that we are trying to eliminate all parts of government other than Social Security, Medicare and Defense is neither realistic nor desirable,” Goldwein said.
Spending cuts are the name of the game in Congress today. House Republicans have proposed a number of areas in favor of spending cuts in a potential debt ceiling deal to keep the U.S. paying its bills on time. Rather than agreeing to an explicit increase in the debt ceiling, they are using the opportunity to negotiate with Democrats to achieve their own policy priorities.
For example, Republicans on the House Budget Committee last month said they were in favor of cutting spending on environmental programs and the federal student debt relief plan, and some Republicans have spoken to former President Donald Trump’s budget officials. reportedly doing It pitched a 104-page plan containing proposed budget cuts to all federal agencies.
The Republican Research Commission also Blueprint Balancing the budget over the last seven years, including making President Trump’s tax cuts permanent and phasing up the retirement age to ensure Social Security payability. Raising the retirement age will lead to a substantial reduction in lifetime benefits for future retirees.
While it remains unclear what exactly Republicans are aiming for in the final deal, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has made it clear that cuts to Social Security and Medicare are out of consideration. Still, some Republican lawmakers haven’t stopped talking about program changes, as noted earlier. raising retirement age to 70.
Trump, who has frequently urged his party to keep the two programs alive, lashed out at the idea at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), saying, “The people who want to destroy our great Social Security system I’m not going to go back to some of our party.”
Goldwein believes measures such as spending caps, cutting health care costs, restoring the solvency of major funds and tax reform will help.
Biden is set to announce his federal budget plan in Philadelphia on Thursday, when he said he would “talk about plans to invest in the United States, continue to reduce costs for families, protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and reduce the deficit.” We plan to do so,” the White House said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Democrats are waiting for Republican plans to move forward with a deal to raise the debt ceiling before the U.S. defaults.
“The Republican Party is divided and unable to unite over plans to raise the debt ceiling. The far right is calling for spending cuts,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. I have written on Twitter. “Will they cut Medicaid? Pell Grant? Food for the kids? Mr. McCarthy: It’s March 2nd. Where’s your plan?”