Here’s how Social Security expansion became a liberal cause again
Social Security Is Having a Moment
Until recently, Democrats were willing to bargain on entitlements. Here’s how Social Security expansion became a liberal cause again.
Jamelle Bouie
Slate, Apr 6, 2015
You probably missed it, but, late last month, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders helped push the Democratic Party a little to the left.
Now, “Democrats Support Social Security” may sound like a nonstory, a political “Dog Bites Man.” But it’s not. Think back to the period stretching from just after the Democratic nadir of the 2010 midterm elections to just after the 2012 presidential election when, caught in Washington’s hysteria over spending, Barack Obama and other Democrats tried hard to strike a bipartisan “grand bargain” on debt and deficits. In exchange for a modest tax hike of $100 billion over 10 years—targeted at the wealthiest Americans—Democrats were willing to cut spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Liberal activists pushed expansion through 2013 and 2014, with unions and liberal groups like Social Security Works and the Progressive Change Committee Campaign at the forefront. Eventually, this activity bubbled through to Democratic lawmakers. Facing a tough—and ultimately futile—re-election campaign, Alaska Sen. Mark Begich introduced his plan to protect Social Security by lifting the cap on income subject to the payroll tax, from its present level of $113,700. That same year, then Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin pushed a plan to boost benefits, and Warren joined the fight with a floor speech against a proposal to chain Social Security benefits to a different—and less generous—measure of inflation.
But the real test of Social Security’s resurgence as a liberal cause is Hillary Clinton. When Social Security solvency meant benefit cuts, she was open to benefit cuts. Now it doesn’t. But we don’t know where Clinton will fall. We do know that she hasn’t locked down the Democratic presidential nomination completely. There are still stakeholders to win and voters to persuade. If liberals make expansion a priority, will Clinton sign on? Or does she have enough party support to resist the call of Elizabeth Warren and keep her prior commitment to “entitlement reform?” There’s no answer yet, but it will come. That, after all, is what primaries are for.
Related:
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Clinton's Remarkable Non-Answer Regarding Social Security (Sep 24, 2015)
Hillary Clinton on Social Security Expansion: Words are Wind. A Cold Wind.
Sanders offers Social Security as latest example of ‘many, many differences’ with Clinton
A Trojan Horse In Clinton’s Pledge To “Enhance” Social Security?
Why It's Misleading to Swear to Protect the Poor's Social-Security Benefits
Hillary Clinton's lack of answers regarding Social Security (September 26, 2007)
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