Republican Senator says they are not being honest about Social Security cuts: “we say something that they just know is not true”
Social Security is considered a ‘third rail’ of US politics but recently Sen. John Curtis told ‘Meet the Press’, “If we don’t touch it, it touches itself.”
The Social Security board of trustees has been warning that the trust funds, which help support benefits along with payroll taxes, are facing insolvency if nothing is done to shore up their reserves. According to their latest report, that could happen as soon as 2033 for the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund at which point all beneficiaries of those programs will face a 21% across-the-board benefit cut.
While some solutions have been put forth, lawmakers are loath to touch Social Security, considered a ‘third rail’ of US politics. However, recently on NBC’s ’Meet the Press’ Republican Utah Senator John Curtis told moderator Kristen Welker, “We’re not being honest when we look people in the eye and say we’re not going to touch it.”
“If we don’t touch it, it touches itself,” he added. “You know that, right? That’s not being honest with the American people, and I think that’s one of the things that makes them not trust us, when we say something that they just know is not true.”
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GOP senator wants to have “honest” conversation about Social Security
Welker asked Curtis if he thought that Social Security was a Ponzi scheme, as DOGE head Elon Musk called it, to which he replied, “I wouldn’t use those words.” But he added that there needs to be a conversation about the future of program that currently sends monthly payments to over 73 million Americans.
“We don’t need to impact the people that are in Social Security. But, if we don’t have a conversation about my kids, or 20-year-olds, or 30-year-olds, that’s where the problem is,” Curtis said. “We can’t be afraid of this conversation simply because people think we’re going to take it away from them.”
“We all need to say, ‘Look, those in retirement, those near retirement, we’re not going to touch them. You’re safe,’” he continued. “But let’s have that conversation. Because my kids don’t think they’re going to get it.”
He asked why there can’t be a conversation “about moving some of the variables around.” And he said it would be better to have this conversation sooner rather than later. “The sooner we do it the less dramatic it has to be. If we don’t do it, we have worse decisions thrust upon us,” he explained.
Curtis told Welker that he will be introducing a change to Social Security in a couple of months.
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