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UNENTITLED: Republican Congressman just admitted the quiet part about GOP Social Security plans

UNENTITLED: Republican Congressman just admitted the quiet part about GOP Social Security plans

Republican Congressman just admitted the quiet part about GOP Social Security plans

Congressman Rick Allen (R-GA) probably wasn’t supposed to say the quiet parts out loud when he was questioned about the GOP’s plans for Social Security…but he did.

When a reporter with Social Security Works asked the Republican representative if the majority intended to raise the eligibility age, Rep. Allen replied, “People come up to me, and they actually want to work longer.”

“If people want to work longer, maybe you need to give them an incentive to do it,” the congressman added.

Watch the clip below. 

Congressman Allen is a member of the Republican Study Committee, which released a 2023 “Blueprint to Save America” position paper that included raising the minimum age to receive full Social Security benefits to 70 years old.

“Since Medicare’s creation in 1965, advances in science and medical technology have increased average life expectancy. This is a great miracle, but it challenges the solvency of the Medicare program,” the plan says. “To address the increased demands on Medicare, the RSC Budget proposes aligning Medicare’s eligibility age with the normal retirement age for Social Security and then indexing this age to life expectancy.”

Republicans have long been plotting ways to keep hard-working Americans from receiving the retirement benefits they’ve contributed to most of their working lives, so Rep. Allen’s statements aren’t all that shocking.

The GOP cleverly uses words like “entitlements” when addressing budget cuts – but social safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare are anything but what the Republican wage thieves are describing.

Working people pay into the system through paycheck deductions, and its obligations do not add to the deficit.

For decades, conservatives have gaslit working Americans and taxpayers, convincing conservative voters that getting the money back that they’ve put into the Social Security system when they retire is equivalent to welfare and stigmatizing the program’s recipients.

“That’s the way to solve every one of these problems,” Allen told a reporter in regard to raising the SS eligibility age. “And actually a way to grow wealth at the same time.”

Rep. Allen’s statements confirm the out-of-touch reality that Republican politicians are living in – and also confirm the cognitive dissonance of their base.

Republicans’ refusal to raise the minimum wage for over a decade, increases in the cost of living, and the skyrocketing cost of healthcare have already put those facing retirement at a critical juncture.

Allowing Republicans to pass their evil agenda of devastating America’s social safety net would return our nation to the dark ages of widespread poverty among the elderly, at least those who are still alive once the GOP cuts their Medicare.

Luckily, with President Joe Biden in office, it’s unlikely that any of the Republican efforts to cut Social Security and Medicare will survive his guaranteed veto.

All the more reason to ensure that the House returns to a Democratic majority in 2024 and that no Republican gets anywhere near the White House.

Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick

Ty Ross
News journalist for Occupy Democrats.

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