In a Ways and Means Republican meeting titled “Democrats’ Partisan Approach to Social Security Hurts Current and Future Workers,” expert witnesses shared how Democrats’ partisan plan to heap tax hikes on workers and job creators and to expand Social Security fails to put the program on sustainable footing.

CLICK HERE to watch the full meeting.

READ: Brady: Democrats’ Partisan Social Security Expansion Makes Matters Worse for Seniors and Future Generations

Former Social Security Public Trustee and Senior Research Strategist at the Mercatus Center Charles Blahous discussed how American workers and seniors are falling behind as Social Security is on track to become depleted by 2034. “Worker standards of living are declining over time relative to the standards of living they expect as beneficiaries, and that’s a problem,” Mr. Blahous said.

Holly Wade, Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Research Center, warned that tax hikes make it difficult for business owners to absorb costs and create hurdles for those wanting to start a business – rather than put the program on a sustainable path. “Small business owners – their main financial tool in reinvesting in their business and reinvesting in their employees are their business earnings. The higher taxes that they pay on those earnings limits their ability to reinvest and compete with other businesses.” 

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• More than 65 million of America’s seniors and most vulnerable rely on Social Security and that number will only continue to grow.
• The Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, which has about $2.8 trillion in assets that were built up by more than 30 years of surpluses, is on track to become depleted by 2034, and its Disability Insurance Trust Fund reserves are less than the program’s annual costs.
• Republicans want to work on a bipartisan basis to protect Social Security for current and future generations, but Democrats’ partisan solutions fail to address the challenges Social Security faces head on.
• Democrats’ tax-and-expand solutions fail to put Social Security on sustainable footing and put American workers, seniors, and small businesses further behind with crippling tax hikes.