{"id":2359418,"date":"2024-10-25T07:32:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T11:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-cant-derail-social-security-but-harris-filibuster-plans-can\/"},"modified":"2024-10-25T07:33:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T11:33:13","slug":"trump-cant-derail-social-security-but-harris-filibuster-plans-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-cant-derail-social-security-but-harris-filibuster-plans-can\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Can&#8217;t Derail Social Security, But Harris&#8217; Filibuster Plans Can"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-cant-derail-social-security-but-harris-filibuster-plans-can%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2359418&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In her campaign&#8217;s &#8220;New Way Forward&#8221; policy document, Kamala Harris asserts that she will protect Social Security and Medicare benefits for seniors from potential cuts\u200d by Donald Trump and \u2062his\u2064 allies. However, her argument is complicated by several important facts. Currently, Trump\u2064 and congressional Republicans cannot change Social Security through party-line voting due\u2064 to Senate rules, specifically the &#8220;Byrd rule,&#8221; which prohibits changes to Social Security via the budget reconciliation process. While\u200b other aspects of the Social Security\u200d Act can be modified through reconciliation, alterations to retirement or disability benefits would require a supermajority of \u200d60 senators, making significant \u2064changes unlikely without bipartisan support.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, Harris and other Democrats are advocating for modifications to Senate rules that would allow legislation \u2064to pass with a simple majority, \u2063effectively weakening the existing barriers against partisan changes to Social Security. This presents an irony in\u200b Harris&#8217;s claim\u200d that a\u200d Trump presidency would jeopardize these programs, as her proposed rule changes could open the door for Democrats to enact changes more easily.<\/p>\n<p>while Harris emphasizes the protection of Social Security \u2064and \u2062Medicare, the potential shift in Senate rules under \u2063Democratic \u200bcontrol \u2062could lead to the very partisan changes she \u2063warns against. The discussion highlights a contrast between political rhetoric and the reality of legislative procedures and possibilities.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In her campaign&rsquo;s &ldquo;New Way Forward&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/kamalaharris.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Policy_Book_Economic-Opportunity.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">policy document<\/a>, Kamala Harris claimed she &ldquo;will not let [Donald] Trump and his allies take away the Social Security and Medicare benefits that seniors have earned.&rdquo; But Harris&rsquo; claims suffer from multiple inconvenient truths.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For starters, under current law and Senate rules, Donald Trump and congressional Republicans cannot change Social Security on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-ramp-up-pressure-campaign-for-manchin-to-support-filibuster-reform-voting-bills\/\" title=\"Democrats Ramp Up Pressure Campaign For Manchin To Support Filibuster Reform, Voting Bills\">party-line basis<\/a>. However, Harris&rsquo; proposals undermining the Senate filibuster would give them an opening to do so.<\/p>\n<h2>Senate&rsquo;s &lsquo;Byrd Rule&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Policy analysts not steeped in Senate procedure might presume that Congress could enact changes to Social Security via budget reconciliation. That process allows lawmakers to pass fiscal changes via expedited procedures circumventing the Senate&rsquo;s 60-vote supermajority requirement for most legislation.<\/p>\n<p>But the Senate&rsquo;s &ldquo;Byrd rule,&rdquo; which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/2\/644\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">codified into law<\/a> in 1985, includes an explicit prohibition on changing Social Security via budget reconciliation. Section 313(b)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act, informally known as the &ldquo;Byrd rule,&rdquo; contains six tests determining whether legislative provisions are &ldquo;extraneous&rdquo; to reconciliation. The sixth test <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/2\/641#g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">references language<\/a> stating that &ldquo;it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any reconciliation bill &hellip; that contains recommendations with respect to the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance program established under Title II of the Social Security Act.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers can and do use reconciliation to make budgetary changes to other Social Security Act programs. For instance, lawmakers in 1996 used reconciliation to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">reform federal welfare laws<\/a>, and they have regularly amended Medicare and Medicaid via reconciliation. But any provision altering Social Security&rsquo;s retirement or disability programs would get stricken as &ldquo;extraneous,&rdquo; unless 60 senators vote to waive a point of order.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That prohibition means that Donald Trump&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-social-security-income-tax-cut-here-is-the-impact-on-benefits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">proposal<\/a> to abolish taxes on Social Security benefits likely could not get enacted into law, absent significant support from Senate Democrats. But it also means that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crfb.org\/blogs\/what-would-trump-campaign-plans-mean-social-security\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">analyses<\/a> claiming the Trump agenda would undermine Social Security&rsquo;s solvency hold less weight because the proposal having the biggest effect on solvency (i.e., abolishing taxes on Social Security benefits) could have little chance of enactment. Amid election-year attacks, the point bears repeating: Under current law, neither party can change Social Security on its own.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Democrats Want to Nuke the Filibuster<\/h2>\n<p>And only Democrats are itching to change Senate rules to allow legislation to pass on a party-line basis. Harris recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/news\/kamala-harris-presidential-campaign-vice-president-housing-affordability-pfas-pollution-wpr-interview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">endorsed<\/a> an &ldquo;exception&rdquo; to the filibuster to pass legislation codifying <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>, having previously supported other &ldquo;exceptions&rdquo; to enact voting rights legislation and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2019\/09\/04\/politics\/kamala-harris-eliminate-filibuster-green-new-deal-climate-town-hall\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Green New Deal<\/a>. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/09\/24\/politics\/joe-manchin-not-endorse-harris-filibuster\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">went even further<\/a>, saying the Senate should &ldquo;change the [filibuster] rule&rdquo; that &ldquo;has been an impediment to progress on a whole host of fronts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Under unified Democrat control next year, the Senate filibuster would quickly contain so many &ldquo;exceptions&rdquo; for leftist priorities as to become Swiss cheese. But nuking the filibuster means lawmakers could, with 51 Senate votes, circumvent or repeal the current procedural restrictions to change Social Security on a party-line basis.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Therein lies the great irony of Kamala Harris&rsquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/kamalaharris.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Policy_Book_Economic-Opportunity.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">assertion<\/a> that &ldquo;with Trump back in the White House, there would be no guardrails stopping Trump and his allies from cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits [and] raising their eligibility ages&rdquo; &mdash; not Trump but Harris and her allies want to eliminate the biggest guardrail preventing partisan changes to Social Security.<\/p>\n<h2>Rhetoric vs. Reality<\/h2>\n<p>Democrats want Harris to hit more on entitlements, with one unnamed Democrat elected official recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/09\/20\/trump-union-voters-democrat-fears-00180171\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">telling<\/a> Politico that &ldquo;she should be coming in on Medicare and Social Security like non-f-cking-stop.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>But her filibuster proposal opens her to myriad questions about how this change will affect a program she says she wants to protect. Does Harris not understand how the Senate over which she presides as vice president currently operates, such that Republicans cannot change Social Security unilaterally? In calling for changes to the filibuster, does she not believe her own rhetoric about the &ldquo;threat&rdquo; Republicans purportedly pose to Social Security? Or is she willing to sacrifice the program for her own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gop-senators-condemn-passage-of-covid-relief-bill-bogged-down-by-left-wing-measures\/\" title=\"GOP senators condemn passage of COVID relief bill bogged down by left-wing measures\">short-term political gain<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>Contra Harris&rsquo; claims about &ldquo;earned benefits,&rdquo; Medicare and Social Security pay out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.taxpolicycenter.org\/sites\/default\/files\/publication\/165535\/social_security_medicare_tpc_report_nov_22_v2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more to most beneficiaries<\/a> than beneficiaries pay in taxes. Both programs need significant reforms, and the Senate&rsquo;s &ldquo;Byrd rule&rdquo; prohibition on changing Social Security via reconciliation is designed to force both parties to negotiate in good faith. Harris&rsquo; rhetorical demagoguery and willingness to shatter institutional norms defy this tradition, increasing the likelihood of a fiscal calamity that will harm current and future seniors.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<div>\n<p>      Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group and author of the book &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1645720020\">The Case Against Single Payer<\/a>.&#8221; He is on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisjacobsHC\">@chrisjacobsHC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kamala Harris asserted she won&#8217;t allow Trump to cut seniors&#8217; benefits, but her claims overlook key facts. Currently, Trump and Republicans can&#8217;t alter Social Security alone due to Senate rules<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2359419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Vice-President-Kamala-Harris-3.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[10130,4021,5894,33104,3634],"class_list":["post-2359418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-filibuster","tag-harris","tag-politics","tag-social-security","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Vice-President-Kamala-Harris-3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2359418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2359419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2359418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2359418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2359418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}