Opinion

What are Republicans’ real intentions for Social Security?

Ronnie Shows Former Democratic Congressman
Font Size:

The news that Social Security will face shortfalls in the near future is not good news for the federal program that millions of American seniors and disabled folks rely on to help make ends meet. Clearly something needs to be done to fix Social Security. My fear is that Republicans are going to try to gut Social Security under the cover of “reforming” the program by eliminating “waste, fraud and abuse.”

As proof, one needs to look no further than recent conservative attacks on the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) fund — a federal program that provides government assistance to those whose disabilities make them unhireable.

Just last week, The Wall Street Journal ran an opinion piece by a leading conservative, Howard Rich, criticizing the SSDI fund, which he describes as a bloated government program that is wrought with excess and wasteful spending. Rich argues that Congress should seriously consider reducing the size of the fund by billions of dollars.

Of course, there really are Americans unfairly taking advantage of SSDI benefits. As with any government program, there are always going to be people who abuse it. But most SSDI beneficiaries have legitimate disabilities and have earned the benefits they receive by working hard all their lives and contributing to Social Security.

To be clear, Republicans are not heartless conservatives who don’t care about the poor and downtrodden. Rather, many believe that it’s not the government’s place to step in and help people when they’re down on their luck. They’d prefer that religious and charitable organizations, not taxpayers, care for the poor and disabled. But the truth is that those organizations simply don’t have the means to take care of all the disabled Americans who receive benefits through the SSDI program. That’s why the program was created in the first place.

Something else to keep in mind: Reducing funding for the SSDI program will not eliminate the needs of those Americans too disabled to work. Rather, it will force states and communities to deal with these folks, since letting them suffer and languish is not an option for a society as wealthy as ours. In my home state of Mississippi, where the state budget is tight, this could spell disaster.

Lastly, I think voters should be aware that while reducing the national debt is critical, it cannot be done on the backs of the poor and middle class alone. Republicans must come to the table on tax increases and not simply say that we can balance the budget by eliminating waste and fraud from programs like SSDI. That is simply not true — the deficit is far too big.

The fact is that programs like SSDI have never been liked by conservatives. Americans must be vigilant and keep in mind that Republican suggestions to “reform” programs like SSDI are not all that different from the fox’s suggestions for improving the henhouse’s security.

Ronnie Shows is a former Democratic member of Congress and member of the Blue Dog Coalition. He represented Mississippi’s Fourth Congressional District between 1999 and 2003.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel