By Ray Cardello for February 12, 2024, Season 24 / Post 38

They can say it is bipartisan, which is rare in a Congress with a more secure boundary between the two Parties than our southern border. But I think you can also call it a Hail Mary when the proposed bill is sponsored by two Senators who have announced their retirement from public service. Senators Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) have joined forces and want to see the creation of a Fiscal Commission to review Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The House Budget Committee recently approved a bill that would form a 16-member fiscal commission to review the retirement program and others that face severe shortfalls. The House proposal was also bi-partisan.

The Social Security program has been in place since 1937 and is relied on by over 60 million seniors. Cuts to entitlement programs have always been considered the third rail of politics, but when you have already announced you are done, you may as well go out with a bang. With net worths of 300M and 10M, respectively, Romney and Manchin are far removed from people who rely on Social Security for $25,000 a year.

It amazes me to see how politicians can talk about cutting a program for people who worked their entire lives to qualify for Social Security, but you will never hear them cut Welfare or Snap programs. Except for Frank Siller and his Tunnels to Towers foundation, you never hear Washington bureaucrats address Veteran poverty or homelessness, but they will vote for more funding for Ukraine. Politicians want to form a commission to study cuts and changes to Social Security, but when did you hear one propose a plan to pay back the Social Security Fund the $3 Trillion the government has “borrowed” from it? Maybe Biden can forgive that debt so politicians never have to speak of it again.

Fiscal Commissions are not often used, but they are a way of negotiating essential programs for the American people with virtual anonymity. The hearings are held behind closed doors. A commission in 2010 recommended raising the minimum age for Social Security and cutting benefits, but Congress voted down both. The commissions do not write bills but develop recommendations for Congress to act on. Some say the reason for the current commission is to force Republicans to support tax increases to prevent cuts in entitlements. The proposal to form the commission has an air of extortion about it.

I want to propose a commission for Congress. It would study the end of omnibus bills filled with unnecessary pork projects to satisfy special interest groups and buy votes until significant progress is made to reduce our National Debt, which is now $33 Trillion. There would be a provision that there are no raises for Congress until every person in the military lives above the poverty level and no veteran is homeless. There will be no more money or benefits given to illegal migrants until Congress eliminates Congressional pensions. I think the chances of any of my plans getting support are nonexistent, but they show how messed up our priorities are in Washington.