Donald Trump campaigned on a promise not to cut Social Security, which puts him at odds with the Republican Party’s historical antipathy to the program and the aims of today’s Republican leadership. So it should come as no surprise that congressional Republicans are already testing Mr. Trump’s hands-off pledge.
As Congress drew to a close this month, Sam Johnson, the chairman of the House Social Security subcommittee, introduced a bill that would slash Social Security benefits for all but the very poorest beneficiaries. To name just two of the bill’s benefit cuts, it would raise the retirement age to 69 and reduce the annual cost-of-living adjustment, while asking nothing in the way of higher taxes to bolster the program; on the contrary, it would cut taxes that high earners now pay on a portion of their benefits. Last week, Mark Meadows, the Republican chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said the group would push for an overhaul of Social Security and Medicare in the early days of the next Congress.
– New York Times