Cites estimates Democrats stripping $900 billion out of programs
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was key to the GOP takeover of the U.S. House in the 1990s and orchestrated his party’s famously successful “Contract with America” for voters, says Joe Biden’s new budget plan is a Social Security killer.
In an online posting, he explained, “anyone who wants to protect Social Security and Medicare should reject President Joe Biden’s newly released budget.”
He said it’s not complicated.
“Biden’s proposed tax and regulatory increases would crush the economy. Undermining economic growth would lead to dramatically lower tax revenues – including revenues for the FICA tax – the primary funder of Social Security,” he said.
He cited an analysis from the Tax Foundation, which noted, “[Biden’s budget plan would] add up to almost $4.7 trillion in new taxes targeted at businesses and high-income individuals. The major changes include higher marginal tax rates on corporate, individual, and capital gains income; a complicated new minimum tax on high-net-worth individuals; and increases to Medicare taxes. The negative effects of higher tax rates on saving, investment, and entrepreneurship would have economy-wide repercussions, ultimately harming workers, international competitiveness, and domestic investment.”
Gingrich said the bottom line from Biden’s agenda would “accelerate” the expected funding shortage for both Medicare and Social Security.
And he affirmed that despite what claims Joe Biden continues to make, “There’s no Republican proposal to cut Social Security or Medicare.”.
“It’s a total lie,” he said. “This is the same tactic Democrats use when protecting other big government golden calves. Democrats claimed we ‘cut’ welfare when I was speaker. Indeed, the welfare budget did go down – because more people had jobs and fewer people needed to be on welfare. Same old dogs, same old tricks,” he said.
Gingrich noted estimates that Biden’s “growth-hindering” policies since 2020 will strip up to $900 billion out of the two programs.
Biden’s budget proposal, Gingrich said, would make that worse.
“So, while Biden tries to focus the country on a non-existent Republican threat, the real danger to Social Security and Medicare is his own effort to double the capital gains tax. No one is going to sell assets if they have to pay 45 percent to the federal government (and more to the state in some areas),” he said.
He recommended that Republicans introduce resolutions in Congress “outlining the scale of damage the Biden budget would do to Social Security and Medicare. They should demand that he withdraw it and introduce a budget that protects Social Security and Medicare.”
He suggested Democrats then would face a dilemma: “Will they vote with Biden, cripple the economy, and devastate Social Security and Medicare to benefit federal bureaucrats; or will they vote with Republicans, strengthen the economy, and save Social Security and Medicare for the American people?”
