Is it real or is it a feint? Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said Tuesday that some entitlement reforms should be considered, saying Medicare changes “clearly on on the table.”
“They were on the table in the Boehner-Obama talks,” the veteran Congressman declared. “They’ve been on the table for some period of time. That does not mean that I’d be prepared to adopt them now, but they’re clearly, I think, on the table.”
Notice the caveat: “That does not mean that I’d be prepared to adopt them now.”
And when it comes to Social Security reform, no dice. Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), John Larson (D-CT), and Xavier Becerra (D-CA), as well as Harry Reid, won’t even consider it.
There is talk of reducing the “chained” consumer price index, in which cost-of-living increases are tied to certain federal programs, such as food stamps or federal pensions, but Social Security is sacrosanct for Democrats. They won’t touch the failing program. Hoyer’s office asserted that if there is entitlement reform, Social Security wouldn’t be a part of it; he wants it “on a separate track.”
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) means it when he says everything’s on the table, even Social Security, proclaiming, “Those are the kinds of things that would get Republicans interested in new revenue.”
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