His budget will make the Medicare trust fund solvent beyond 2050.
 | By Vanessa Mobley Op-Ed Editor |
In a speech he gave in Tampa, Fla., two days after the State of the Union, President Biden framed his party's commitment to the full funding of government entitlement programs this way: "I know that a lot of Republicans, their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare," Biden told the crowd. "Let me say this: If that's your dream, I'm your nightmare." |
In a guest essay published today, Biden outlines his plan to stave off Medicare insolvency. Building on what he describes as health care cost savings made possible by the Affordable Care Act, fully funding the Medicare trust fund will rely on a tax on earned and unearned income above $400,000. |
As Paul Krugman, one of our Opinion columnists, recently explained in his newsletter, "Our major social programs are on a trajectory that will cause them to cost more in the future than they do today. But how we deal with that trajectory is a choice, and the solution need not involve benefit cuts." |
The president is scheduled to release his budget on Thursday, as Congressional Republicans call for more spending cuts. The process is unlikely to go smoothly. As Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, noted in a statement, "Congress has not passed a budget on time in 20 years." With both parties preparing for the debt ceiling fight to come, the stakes feel especially high. |
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