Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) released the first in a multipart video series highlighting Social Security's dire financial outlook on Monday, featuring him taking to the streets for man-on-the-street-style interviews in which he prescribed some solutions and knocked 2024 hopefuls for shying away from reform.
The video comes as many Republicans are backing away from entitlement reform, such as former President Donald Trump.
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“Social Security is going insolvent in nine years. When that happens, benefits are cut by 24% for all current and future beneficiaries,” Cassidy said. “We have a ‘Big Idea’ to save Social Security, and I am presenting it to these fellow Americans to see how they like it.”
Bill on the Hill: Season 1, Episode 1: Saving, Strengthening, and Securing Social Security.
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) May 15, 2023
In 9 years, Social Security is going insolvent, and all current & future beneficiaries will face a 24% benefit cut. I hit the streets to present our “Big Idea” to fix it. Come along! pic.twitter.com/Fryu1RvQp5
That "Big Idea" Cassidy refers to is the establishment of a separate fund to strengthen Social Security via private investments.
"We would take some dollars, not Social Security money, set up a fund separate from Social Security, and we invest that fund in the U.S. economy. And as that money grows, we use it in order to help Social Security become solid," Cassidy explained in the video.
People on the street featured in his video seemed receptive to it, though the precise mechanics of the proposal remain unclear.
Congress has previously considered packages that would privatize Social Security or allow taxpayers to funnel some of their payroll dollars into private accounts similar to superannuation in Australia.
Those measures have been relegated to the congressional legislative graveyard.
Cassidy is leading a working group with Sen. Angus King (I-ME) on how to avert the program's projected insolvency. Cassidy is the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
One projection from the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the program's Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance trust funds will be depleted by 2033 and 2048, respectively.
Democrats such as President Joe Biden have pummeled Republicans for musing about entitlement reform, warning voters that they plan to slash funding.
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and some top 2024 hopefuls have insisted that the GOP isn't planning to cut Social Security funding.
"The leading presidential candidates are saying there's no problem with Social Security," Cassidy said in the video, to the astonishment of interview participants.