[Biden is right to highlight Republican attacks on Social
Security. He should also propose a plan to expand it. ]
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EXPANDING SOCIAL SECURITY IS WINNING POLICY AND POLITICS  
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Nancy J. Altman
February 23, 2023
Common Dreams
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_ Biden is right to highlight Republican attacks on Social Security.
He should also propose a plan to expand it. _

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Democrats learned the wrong lesson about Social Security in the 1990s.
That incorrect lesson was unfortunately reinforced in 2005. Now is the
time to learn the right lesson. President Joe Biden is on the right
track, but to truly succeed, he must shake off the wrong lessons of
the past.

Starting with President Franklin Roosevelt’s landslide victory in
1936, through the 1982 midterms where Democrats gained 26 House seats,
Social Security was a winning issue. But starting in the 1990s,
Democrats lost their way on Social Security, with negative
consequences for both policy and politics.

President Ronald Reagan transformed our politics when he declared
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“government is the problem.” By the time today’s projected
shortfall emerged, the Democratic Party was controlled by the
so-called New Dems, most prominently President Bill Clinton. Those New
Dems were convinced
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deficit hawks that Social Security was a “problem” and that the
“solution” had to include unpopular benefit cuts.

To avoid political accountability, the conventional thinking was that
Democrats should hold hands with Republicans and jump together. In
fact, Clinton reportedly
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on the ledge, holding hands with Newt Gingrich, when the Monica
Lewinsky affair and the subsequent impeachment made cooperation
impossible.

That wrong lesson was reinforced in 2005, when President Bush proposed
partially privatizing Social Security, while decimating the benefits
of the middle class. Democrats opposed Bush’s privatization plan,
without offering an alternative of their own. That was the correct
course of action at the time. Republicans controlled the House and
Senate, as well as the White House, and a Democratic alternative would
have distracted from the very dangerous Bush proposal.

But despite winning control of the House and Senate in the 2006
midterms, as well as the White House in 2008, too many Democrats clung
to the wrong lesson. They continued to call for and seek a bipartisan
package of revenue increases and benefit cuts. They failed in that
effort because, as they now see clearly, benefit cuts are bad policy
and politics — the infamous third rail. But too many still fail to
see that a positive Social Security agenda is a winner.

As important as it is to restore Social Security to long-range
balance, that is simply a means to the end of providing some measure
of economic security. Though Social Security has many strengths, its
benefits are too low.

The nation is facing a retirement income crisis. Numerous polls
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surveys over recent years reveal that not having enough money in
retirement leads the list of Americans’ top financial concerns.
Expert analyses reveal
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Americans’ concerns about retirement are well-founded. Expanding
Social Security’s modest benefits, with no cuts, is a solution to
that crisis.

"If the Biden administration championed an expansion plan, unveiled at
a White House event with major stakeholders in attendance, that could
not be ignored."

Americans have heard for years that Social Security is facing a
shortfall. In addition to providing cash benefits, Social Security is
intended to provide, as its name suggests, a sense of security, peace
of mind. Working families should be secure in the knowledge that when
wages are gone in the event of old age, disability, or death, Social
Security is there.

President Biden campaigned
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Social Security’s modest benefits, while dedicating more revenue to
it. Most Democratic senators
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of the House
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that as well. Yet the mainstream media fails to take those proposals
seriously.

If the Biden administration championed an expansion plan, unveiled at
a White House event with major stakeholders in attendance, that could
not be ignored.

The Republicans have given the Democrats a gift in their talk of
sun-setting and cutting Social Security. Biden is right to highlight
those comments and insist on a clean debt limit. But at the right
moment, sometime later this year, Biden should propose a plan to
expand Social Security.

Such a plan should increase benefits across-the-board, expand benefits
in additional targeted ways, and restore the program to long-range
balance by dedicating new revenue from those with incomes over
$400,000 (as Biden proposed doing during his campaign).

In addition to requiring Social Security contributions on incomes over
$400,000, the new revenue could — and should — come from any
number of progressive sources. Potential sources are Biden’s
proposed minimum tax on billionaires, a wealth tax, an income surtax,
a higher tax on capital gains, the estate tax, or numerous other
sources.

In light of the enormous income and wealth inequality of recent
decades, which has cost
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Security literally billions of dollars each year, this is fully
justifiable. There is more than enough money to expand Social Security
and restore it to long-range balance, without unduly burdening anyone.

The Senate should hold hearings on the Biden plan and seek to bring it
to a vote. The president should demand hearings and a vote in the
House, as well. If Republicans block the Biden plan and fail to
produce their own plan for Social Security, they will effectively be
advocating for an across-the-board cut around 2034, since that will be
the result of no action.

Poll after poll shows that such a potential Biden expansion plan would
be extremely popular. Because Social Security is so important,
painting the contrast — Democrats want to expand Social Security,
Republicans want to cut it — is a much more powerful message than
simply attacking Republicans, polling reveals
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Indeed, Independent voters are 19 points more likely to back Democrats
when told that Democrats support expanding benefits!

If the debate over cutting or expanding Social Security is a major
issue in 2024, Democrats will be in a strong position to retain the
White House and the Senate, while retaking the House. They will then
be able to hold votes on Social Security — in the sunshine, not
behind closed doors.

President Roosevelt called Social Security “a cornerstone in a
structure which is being built but is by no means complete.” Now is
the moment for President Biden to not just protect Social Security,
but continue that noble Democratic tradition of adding to that
structure.

_Common Dreams' work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND
3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely._

_Nancy J. Altman [[link removed]]
is president of Social Security Works and chair of the Strengthen
Social Security coalition. She has a 40-year background in the areas
of Social Security and private pensions. Her latest book is "The Truth
About Social Security: The Founders' Words Refute Revisionist History,
Zombie Lies, and Common Misunderstandings" (2018). She is also the
author of "The Battle for Social Security" (2005)._

* Social Security
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* Joe Biden
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