Trump-GOP Tax Cuts for Wealthy Creates Massive Debt, False Rationale to Slash Social Security, Medicare

Interview with Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, conducted by Scott Harris

Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan recently announced that he won’t run for re-election in his Wisconsin home district this November, news that surprised many in Washington. But as he prepares to leave government, in the face of a predicted Democratic takeover of the House this November, Ryan and his GOP colleagues will be leaving an indelible legacy: the massive tax cut bill they voted for and President Trump signed into law, which disproportionately benefits the wealthiest Americans, at a steep cost.
 
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the cost of the Trump-GOP tax cuts will cause the nation’s annual budget deficit to top $1 trillion in 2020. The CBO also estimates that the U.S. debt will grow to more than $33 trillion in 2028, almost matching the U.S. gross domestic product, the highest level since World War II.
 
After the tax cut bill passed last December, Speaker Ryan and other top Republican leaders with no sense of irony stated that the out-of-control deficit problem they themselves had created, should be addressed by slashing popular federal social safety net programs including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid under the guise of what they call “entitlement reform.”  The House has already proposed strict work requirements for food stamp recipients and those who receive Medicaid benefits in GOP controlled states could also be subjected to work requirements. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, who examines the decades long effort by the Republican Party to raise the eligibility age and reduce benefits for millions of Americans enrolled in the nation’s federal social safety net programs.

ALEX LAWSON: This is one of their oldest tricks. Deficits only matter when Democrats are in power or when the Republicans are coming for your wallet. So when they’re talking about these deficits now, they’re definitely coming to reach their hand into your pocket and steal your Social Security, steal your Medicare, steal your Medicaid.

Look, it’s not about a deficit or debt. We are the richest nation in the world at the richest point in our history. This is just about political choices. It’s the rationale that they’re using. But Paul Ryan has fantasize about dealing seniors’ money, pushing them into penury and an early grave since college. There’s something deeply wrong with that. And yet he’s proud of it. He’s proud. He’s proud that he supports policies that would destroy Meals on Wheels. He’s proud that he would destroy Medicaid, the largest provider of long-term care in this country for a huge majority of Americans.

He’s proud that he would destroy Medicare, which does a far better job of restraining healthcare costs. So, if you were actually caring about any sort of fiscal policies, you would be improving and expanding Medicare to cover everyone. But it’s a lie. It’s a lie that they care about it. They’ve never cared about it. They’ve only got one game. They can dress it up however they want, but it’s to reach into our pockets, steal our money and give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. It’s their game. It’s what they spent the entire first year trying to pass – Trumpcare, which openly destroyed Medicaid, raided Medicare. And remember, they all voted for it. The Republicans are on record voting to raid hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare, to destroy Medicaid to cut $1.5 trillion out of Medicaid. When we defeated them on that, they just flipped it. They flipped it with their tax scam, but it’s the same thing. Now they’ve just given our money to their criminal friends on Wall Street and now they’re coming to pick our pockets.

BETWEEN THE LINES: What do we know about the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled House and Senate are planning to do regarding cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. What’s on the agenda?

ALEX LAWSON: They are politically savvy. That’s why they pretend it’s about deficit. They will dress it up. They’re calling it work requirements. Don’t be fooled, though. Don’t buy the hype. These guys have one game and it’s to destroy systems that help people. That’s what they do. So, their work requirements … you know, how you encourage work? You create jobs. That’s what you do to encourage work. How is taking a person who’s being treated for cancer, how is taking their medical, ability to get that treatment for cancer? How is taking that away going to encourage them to work? It’s not, it’s obviously not. And that’s what the work requirement would do. Don’t be fooled. That’s what they’re talking about. See, these guys work for Wall Street and Wall Street has an enormous amount of money to spend on a bunch of propagandists and spin masters and the like who will dress up these policies in ways that sound kind of appealing like, “Oh yeah, that’s about encouraging work.”

It’s not about encouraging work. It’s not about encouraging work. If anything, it’s a war on poor people. That’s what it is, but they’re not going to stop there. They hope that people will turn their head when they’re only attacking their neighbor. But don’t be fooled. They’re coming for you next, it’s what they always do. And remember their goal, the crown jewel that they are trying to seize, is $2.9 trillion held in trust for the American people. That is our Social Security trust fund. That is what they cannot stand that they can’t get their hands on. And that’s what they’re trying to do every single day.

For more information on Social Security Works, visit SocialSecurityWorks.org

Subscribe to our Weekly Summary