I happened to run across this and thought to myself, “Self, what are the odds the Republican Senate can pull this off?”
“After being crushed in November, would they really double down on destroying Social Security and Medicare (because that’s what they’re destroying here)? More to the point, would we put it past them? No, we would not.”
But as Perdue and other Senate Republican freshman see it, Congress has been unable to even get to a serious discussion about entitlement reform because the big-ticket programs are sequestered from the annual appropriations bills.
One of the four biennial bills proposed by Perdue would be devoted to national security and include defense, military construction, veterans’ affairs and foreign relations, costing about $850 billion.
The second, costing $1 trillion, would include Medicare, Medicaid and all health-related domestic programs.
The third, also at $1 trillion, would cover federal spending, discretionary and mandatory on retirement programs, including the federal employee retirement and Social Security.
The fourth would catch spending programs not included in the first three. Its price tag would also be $1 trillion.
If lawmakers failed to reach agreement and the bills stalled, funding for government programs would continue but lawmakers would be penalized with a steep reduction to their paychecks.
Perdue emphasized that his proposal is the outgrowth of months of discussions with fellow freshmen as well as with McConnell, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.).
“This is not a rogue effort, this is playing within the lines,” Perdue said.
Freshmen Republicans are calling on their leaders to get on board, even though Trump has steered clear of talk about reforming Social Security and Medicare.
When the voices in you head adopt the third person reference “self” it’s probably still okay, but you kinda need to worry when they gravitate to the imperial “We”. 😉