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The GOP-led reforms could include a move toward “flat benefits,” in which beneficiaries would receive payments tied to the federal poverty level instead of payments based on their pre-disability earnings.
It’s a change that’s been championed by the conservative Heritage Foundation, which found in an analysis published Friday that the move would save $168 billion – the same amount discussed in the deal Monday.
GOP leaders say those reforms would help stave off the 20-percent cut in disability benefits that would hit about 11 million recipients next year without action by Congress.
But talk of shrinking some Social Security benefits is already generating an outcry from liberal groups like the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
“The White House, every Democrat running for president, and every Democrat in Congress should make clear that any deal that cuts Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits would be unacceptable policy -- and politically, would be wildly unpopular with voters,” Adam Green, co-founder of the progressive group, wrote in a statement late Monday.
While the change could mean payment cuts for some beneficiaries, Heritage Action analyst Rachel Greszler argues that those impacted would be insulated because they are more likely to have “substantial private savings or private [disability] coverage.”
Greszler, a former senior economist for Congress’s Joint Economic Committee, also writes that most cuts would be “relatively minor,” as only one-third of all beneficiaries exceed 125 percent of the poverty level.
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comment: remember folks voting to cut these programs next November for soar 11-3 in Missouri will most certainly remember. it would be a nice time for presidential contenders and federal running folks to comment
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