news
08-07-2015, 03:12 AM
A question about Social Security during Thursday's GOP debate sparked an extended debate between Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee about the country’s largest social insurance program. It has appeared as an emerging fault line in the Republican presidential field.
The argument began when Chris Wallace asked whether Christie, who has proposed Social Security benefit cuts, thought Huckabee was not being honest for claiming Social Security could be fixed without benefit cuts. “He is not lying -- he is just wrong,” Christie said.
“I am the only person on this stage who has put out a detailed entitlement reform plan,” Christie added. “That’s because 71 percent of the federal budget is spent on those programs and debt service. We have just spent a lot of time talking about the other 29 percent.”
Christie then elaborated on his plan, proposing a gradual increase in the retirement age and cutting benefits for people with higher incomes.
Huckabee responded that he thought it was dishonest to cut benefits for Americans, who have been paying into the program all their lives through no choice of their own. “There are 60 million Americans who receive Social Security,” Huckabee noted. “One-third of them rely on it for more than 90 percent of their incomes.”
Christe interjected that Huckabee was not being realistic about the program’s finances. “The lying and the stealing has already occurred,” Christie said. “The trust fund is filled with IOUs” because Congress raided the program.
Huckabee rejected the notion, arguing that Social Security’s funding problem was due to the growth of unearned income that is not taxed for Social Security.
“Social Security is funded by people who get a wage,” Huckabee said. “That is not where most of the income is in this country.”
Huckabee instead proposed taxing unearned income like the dividends that he said make up a disproportionate share of wealthy Americans’ income.
Huckabee’s remarks will please Social Security advocates, who argue that rising income inequality (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=ben-veghte/its-time-to-restore-the-e_b_7166310.html) -- including through growing unearned income -- has harmed Social Security’s finances.
Christie, regardless of his policy proposals, will elicit their ire for echoing a long-debunked myth about the program: that the trust fund has been raided, and contains worthless IOUs. The trust fund is invested in U.S. Treasury bonds (http://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/understanding-the-social-security-trust-funds) backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.
At the Republican debate for lower-polling candidates earlier in the evening, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) shared the story (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/lindsey-graham-social-security-cuts_55c3fa53e4b0d9b743dba759?kvcommref=mostpopula r) of how Social Security helped his sister when their parents died. He then said his experience motivated him to call for means-testing the program in order to save it.
For more GOP debate coverage, visit our liveblog (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=2015/08/06/republican-debate-live-updates_n_7949740.html?1438893690).
Also on HuffPost:
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/1/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/1/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/2/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/2/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/3/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/3/rc.htm)
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/a2.img (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/a2.htm)
http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/ach.img (http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/ach.htm)http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/a2t.imghttp://pi2.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/a2t2.imghttp://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/48c79720/sc/7/mf.gif
More... (http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/48c79720/sc/7/l/0L0Shuffingtonpost0N0C20A150C0A80C0A60Cchris0Echri stie0Eand0Emike0Ehuckabee0Eexchange0Eblows0Eon0Eso cial0Esecurity0In0I7953410A0Bhtml/story01.htm)
The argument began when Chris Wallace asked whether Christie, who has proposed Social Security benefit cuts, thought Huckabee was not being honest for claiming Social Security could be fixed without benefit cuts. “He is not lying -- he is just wrong,” Christie said.
“I am the only person on this stage who has put out a detailed entitlement reform plan,” Christie added. “That’s because 71 percent of the federal budget is spent on those programs and debt service. We have just spent a lot of time talking about the other 29 percent.”
Christie then elaborated on his plan, proposing a gradual increase in the retirement age and cutting benefits for people with higher incomes.
Huckabee responded that he thought it was dishonest to cut benefits for Americans, who have been paying into the program all their lives through no choice of their own. “There are 60 million Americans who receive Social Security,” Huckabee noted. “One-third of them rely on it for more than 90 percent of their incomes.”
Christe interjected that Huckabee was not being realistic about the program’s finances. “The lying and the stealing has already occurred,” Christie said. “The trust fund is filled with IOUs” because Congress raided the program.
Huckabee rejected the notion, arguing that Social Security’s funding problem was due to the growth of unearned income that is not taxed for Social Security.
“Social Security is funded by people who get a wage,” Huckabee said. “That is not where most of the income is in this country.”
Huckabee instead proposed taxing unearned income like the dividends that he said make up a disproportionate share of wealthy Americans’ income.
Huckabee’s remarks will please Social Security advocates, who argue that rising income inequality (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=ben-veghte/its-time-to-restore-the-e_b_7166310.html) -- including through growing unearned income -- has harmed Social Security’s finances.
Christie, regardless of his policy proposals, will elicit their ire for echoing a long-debunked myth about the program: that the trust fund has been raided, and contains worthless IOUs. The trust fund is invested in U.S. Treasury bonds (http://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/understanding-the-social-security-trust-funds) backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.
At the Republican debate for lower-polling candidates earlier in the evening, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) shared the story (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/lindsey-graham-social-security-cuts_55c3fa53e4b0d9b743dba759?kvcommref=mostpopula r) of how Social Security helped his sister when their parents died. He then said his experience motivated him to call for means-testing the program in order to save it.
For more GOP debate coverage, visit our liveblog (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=2015/08/06/republican-debate-live-updates_n_7949740.html?1438893690).
Also on HuffPost:
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/1/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/1/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/2/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/2/rc.htm)
http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/3/rc.img (http://rc.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/rc/3/rc.htm)
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/a2.img (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/a2.htm)
http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/ach.img (http://adchoice.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/ach.htm)http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/a2t.imghttp://pi2.feedsportal.com/r/234566782742/u/0/f/677045/c/35496/s/48c79720/sc/7/a2t2.imghttp://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/48c79720/sc/7/mf.gif
More... (http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/48c79720/sc/7/l/0L0Shuffingtonpost0N0C20A150C0A80C0A60Cchris0Echri stie0Eand0Emike0Ehuckabee0Eexchange0Eblows0Eon0Eso cial0Esecurity0In0I7953410A0Bhtml/story01.htm)