"No matter how hard you
try to hide, the American people will be watching—and we won't let you cut our
earned Social Security benefits."
Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of
Iowa is under fire after telling a town hall audience last weekend that members
of Congress should negotiate changes to Social Security "behind closed
doors" in order to dodge scrutiny from the media and advocacy groups.
Ernst, who is running for
reelection in 2020, complained to the crowd gathered in Estherville, Iowa that
"the minute you say we need to address Social Security, the media is
hammering you, the opposing party is hammering you—there goes granny over a
cliff."
Lawmakers should therefore
meet in secret to avoid "being scrutinized by this group or the
other," said the Iowa Republican.
Ernst did not recommend
specific changes to Social Security during her town hall appearance, but the
senator has in the past suggested privatization of the widely
popular program as "one
solution."
A video of Ernst's remarks was
posted on Youtube Tuesday by the Democratic super PAC American Bridge, and the
comments quickly generated outrage on social media.
Nancy Altman, president of
progressive advocacy group Social Security Works, wrote Friday
that Ernst "said out loud what Republican politicians usually only talk
about in secret meetings with their billionaire donors: the GOP wants to cut
our earned Social Security benefits—and they want to do it behind closed doors
so that they don't have to pay the political price."
Altman said any changes
Congress makes to Social Security should expand the program's benefits, and the
improvements should be made in public.
"All of us who have a
stake in Social Security—which is every one of us—should insist that those
seeking our vote tell us if they support expanding or cutting Social
Security," wrote Altman. "If they refuse to tell us, if they ramble
on about their desire to 'save' or 'fix' or 'strengthen' Social Security in
secret, we should draw the obvious inference: They want to cut Social
Security."
Ernst's comments came as
President Donald Trump is reportedly
considering cuts to Social Security and Medicare as a possible
"second-term project."
As the Washington Post reported in
July, Trump ordered his aides to "prepare for sweeping budget cuts if he
wins a second term in the White House."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a
2020 Democratic presidential candidate who in February introduced
legislation to expand Social Security by hiking taxes on the
rich, said Friday
that he has "some bad news" for Republicans who want to gut Social
Security in secret.
"We're not going to cut Social
Security benefits," Sanders tweeted. "We're going to expand
them."
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