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Medicare is in the crosshairs – Daily Montanan [1]

['More From Author', 'November', 'Evan Barrett']

Date: 2022-11-05  

“Don’t tell anybody.” That’s the approach GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell took when approached recently with the question of what his party would do if it regained control of Congress next year. McConnell said: “I’ll let you know when we take it back.”

Such failure to disclose your party’s plans makes a mockery of the democratic process where voters are expected to make informed decisions when they cast their ballots.

It may also be a way to keep politically unpopular agenda items hidden during the election for fear they would cost the party’s candidates votes. That, actually, appears to be the case – for God’s sake, don’t tell the voters before the election!

But, other leaders are less coy than McConnell and, thanks to them, the political cat is out of the bag. It is a truly ugly cat. Turns out that Social Security and Medicare are in the crosshairs in the coming Congress. Montana senior voters who comprise a full 25% of Montana’s voting age population is over the age of 65 should be paying attention now and next year.

Full disclosure: During the years I have written about Social Security and Medicare in the abstract. But for the last decade I have joined so many of my fellow Montanans as someone who depends upon that monthly retirement check.

Don’t take lightly the fact that Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, publicly announcing a plan called a “rescue plan” for the country. Saying “Americans deserve to know what we will do,” Scott’s plan for America would put all federal programs, including Social Security and Medicare, under a “sunset provision” that would take them to zero and force them to be re-enacted in order for the programs to cut checks to citizens who have throughout their lives put their own money in to support their future retirement.

Imagine that. Take your future monthly Social Security checks and your right to have Medicare support for important medical procedures and take them to zero before deciding to maybe restore some of the cuts.

And U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin goes even more extreme. He wants the commitment to your monthly Social Security payment and your Medicare help to drop to zero every year. He says the allocation of your money for your Social Security payments should no longer be “mandatory spending.”

Imagine putting your financial future, your daily ability to survive, in the hands of a bunch in Washington who can hardly pass a bill that simply names a post office.

It is there on the House side, too. Kevin McCarthy, a possible Speaker of the House, has also revealed plans to put Social Security, Medicare and other so-called “entitlements” on the chopping block.

This 2022 attack on Social Security and Medicare, now revealed, is not surprising. They have been targets before. Good to remember that both programs were enacted with the votes of one political party back in 1935 and 1965.

Recently the budget proposed by House Speaker Paul Ryan in 2010 would have directly reduced both programs and his budget in 2014 included a privatization of Medicare.

The excuse that will be given for cutting your Medicare and Social Security is that the budget will be out of balance and the national debt too high. Both may be true, but Montana seniors should take the position that the Trump tax cuts of 2017, which gave $1.9 trillion in tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations, need to be rescinded before Congress takes a penny from those dependent on Social Security and Medicare.

Montana senior voters should look out to see what the respective candidates for Congress say about getting rid of the 2017 Trump tax-break-for-the-rich before they look to you to once again carry the tax burden for the rich on your back.

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Evan Barrett lives in historic Uptown Butte, having retired after 47 years at the top level of Montana government, politics, economic development and education. An award-winning producer of Montana history films, he is currently producing “Last Best Constitution.”

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[1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/11/05/montana-seniors-social-security-medicare-is-in-the-crosshairs/

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