Social Security — long referred to as the “third rail” of American politics — so charged as to be fatal if touched — is back in the spotlight as the midterm elections near.
President Joe Biden has made it a key campaign theme — repeatedly asserting the benefit program is “on the chopping block” if Republicans win back control of the House and Senate.
“Your Social Security you paid for your whole life is on the ballot,” Biden said this week at a virtual fundraiser in support of a House Democrat.
Biden has seized on two proposals from GOP Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who say Social Security should be up for reauthorization by Congress every five years or annually, respectively.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks about lowering health care costs in the Rose Garden at the White House on September 27, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The two senators have pushed back, saying their ideas are intended to fix the program, not to eliminate it.
Johnson argues the plan to make the funding discretionary, rather than mandatory as it’s been since the program’s creation, will boost the Social Security Administration’s finances as it experiences shortfalls.
“I want to make myself very clear, I want to save Social Security. I want to save Medicare,” Johnson said at last week’s debate against his Democratic opponent Mandela Barnes, who made sure to mention Johnson’s past comments calling Washington’s handling of Social Security a “Ponzi…
