Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act of 2018
Floor Speech
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I want to say straightforwardly to my colleagues on the other side, this is as straightforward and it is as simple as it can be: Nothing in this bill can take effect unless and until the chief actuaries have certified that this bill will do no harm to Medicare and Social Security.
Now, unlike Members of Congress who have a pension plan, who have a Thrift Savings Plan, who also have Social Security, for one-third of all seniors in this country, they rely on Social Security alone; and for two-thirds of all seniors--and that is your mothers and fathers and aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews and friends and family--90 percent of their income comes from Social Security.
Mr. Speaker, 10,000--10,000--baby boomers become eligible for Social Security every single day; and yet, as Mr. Neal has pointed out, the lack of hearings, the lack of any substantive debate on Social Security and Medicare. It has been nonexistent.
I include in the Record a letter from Robert Greenstein from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and I think it bears listening to so that you get a full understanding and impact of what happens when this so-called tax reform bill takes effect and its burden is thrust squarely on the people who are in most need at the time. [From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Sept. 10, 2018] Greenstein: House Republican Tax Proposal Repeats Flaws in 2017 Tax Law
CBPP released the following statement from Robert Greenstein, president, on House of Republican leaders' release of their ``2.0'' tax proposal:
Today's tax proposal from House Republican leaders doubles down on the fundamental flaws of the 2017 tax law by further expanding deficits and once again favoring people with the highest incomes. The proposal calls for making permanent the 2017 law's individual tax provisions. Those provisions benefit households in the top 1 percent twice as much as households in the bottom 60 percent, measured as a share of income.
Making these provisions permanent would cost roughly $650 billion over 2019 to 2028, according to the Joint Tax Committee. Large as it is, this estimate significantly understates the long-term cost because the bill largely affects only the final three years of the 2019-2028 ``budget window.'' We estimate that the legislation would cost roughly $2.9 trillion over 2026 to 2035, the first full decade it would be in effect.
The revenue loss would come at a time when the baby boom generation will be retiring in large numbers and moving into ``old-old age,'' causing Medicare and Social Security costs to rise considerably. Indeed, 2026, the year in which most of the new GOP tax legislation would start having effect, is the first year in which all members of the baby boom generation-- including the youngest--will be eligible to draw Social Security retirement benefits. It's also the year in which the oldest baby boomers will turn 80; people in their 80s have higher health care costs, on average, than younger seniors do. The nation will need more revenues to help meet these and other challenges, such as a decaying infrastructure, not fewer revenues,
Policymakers should fix the flaws of the 2017 tax law, not extend them and compound the damage.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization and policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of government policies and programs. It is supported primarily by foundation grants.
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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Greenstein says: ``We estimate that the legislation would cost roughly $2.9 trillion over 2026 to 2035, the first full decade it would be in effect.
``The revenue loss would come at a time when the baby boom generation will be retiring in large numbers . . . causing Medicare and Social Security costs to rise considerably.''
Indeed, when this bill kicks in in 2026, it is the first year in which all members of the baby boom generation, including the youngest, will be eligible to draw on their Social Security retirement funds. It is also the year in which those in that generation will turn 80; and, as we all know, that is the time when they need medical attention the most and a time when the Nation will desperately need these revenues.
My Republican colleagues are paying for this tax reform on the backs of American seniors, forcing devastating cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Under the guise of tax reform, the trillions they are adding to the deficit is no accident, and cutting Social Security and Medicare has always been the next step.
News flash to my colleagues who refer to Social Security and Medicare as an entitlement: It is not an entitlement. It is the insurance that people have paid for, working all their life.
And how do we know this? How do we know this, America? Because all they have to do is check their pay stub where it says, ``FICA,'' Federal Insurance Contributions Act.
Whose? Theirs, the hardworking people of America, who understand that this is the insurance that they have paid for. This is what they need in life. And at the very critical time when the full complement of baby boomers are retiring, they get burdened and saddled with this debt.
I would like to hope that our colleagues would at least listen to President Trump, President Trump, who said: We're not going to hurt the people who are paying into Social Security their whole life, and then, all of a sudden they're supposed to get less?
I hope our colleagues follow their President's lead, and understand the vital importance of making sure, not only that we protect Social Security, that we expand it at a time when it is most critical to all of them.
It would be great if we ever have a public hearing on it; but I have a profound inclination to understand that when Mr. Neal is chairman of this committee, we will take this bill up.
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