Page 23 - Means Testing News Today

Negotiate against themselves. nobody does that. >> they did that last year. >> oh. >> its their idea. >> oh so -- >> you said they dont want to get out in front of what is their own idea. >> but you just admitted that entitlements need to a part of the process. thats an idea everyone agrees on. >> two things. its the republicans -- but by and large that is a solution pushed by the republican party and the other side of the entitlement reform question is what paul krugman points out today which i...

Security, not just 20 years out but until my kid has a kid whos looking towards social security and we can do the same thing with medicare. >> your kid is 40 years old though we should say. >> just so everyone knows. >> i have a 7-year-old. to the eye can see. we can do the same thing with medicare. if youre really concerned about means testing, theres an easy way. >> thats interesting. your point is dont do it on the benefits side. make sure youre taxing -- >> have people put more money into th...

Want to see 34ed kade -- im sorry, medicare touched but the belt way folks, the folks that are going to be voting on this do want to see that. >> yes, would he do. >> what are we going to bring to the table? are we just going to say were not going to bargain with you? i mean, at what level do we allow for, say, means testing? we may not like it, but thats what its going to allow. >> means testing, we can do means testing. if you want to do means testing, theres a very efficient way of doing it. ...

Power today. i say its true if republicans resist, they will take the blame. that will help the democrats in the congress. but obama is never running again. he doesnt care who gets the blame. he is going to be the president. she a lame duck. he wants the term. if it starts by going over the cliff it starts with a second recession. 2 million unemployed and wrecked second term. that is the leverage that republicans have over obama. its utterly unacceptable. >> bret: to kirstens point, some republi...

Percentage point >> thats what the president -- >> thats what the president supports that position too. im not talking about massive cuts over the next couple of years. you know what, i hate deficits. i am a budget hawk. im a freak on that stuff. but you know what, we cant balance the budget next year. we cant count -- balance it. we can handle a few more years of deficits if we take care of the long-term debt. >> i agree. asking about one or two specifics. i dont have one or two specifics. beca...

Ran, had to do with you making a pledge about protecting, keeping sort of -- essentially making the case youre going to keep medicare and social security out of this fiscal argument. is that where you stand? could you support changes in medicare like raising the eligibility age, tougher aspects to means testing in order to get a larger deal? >> i support keeping medicare as it is. our seniors have earned that right. its a system that works well for them. it is a balancing. we have some tough eco...

Understand that these tax cuts are going to go away at the end of the year if they dont get reasonable. once they go away, then we can come back in and pass tax cuts for the middle class and leave the very wealthy out of that equation. so, there is pressure here on both sides of the equation. weve got a real debt and deficit problem. we need to be serious about it, while we protect the middle class. im hopeful we can find some combination of an increase in rates for the wealthy, some limitation ...

Come back in and pass tax cuts for the middle class and leave the very wealthy out of that equation. so, there is pressure here on both sides of the equation. weve got a real debt and deficit problem. we need to be serious about it, while we protect the middle class. im hopeful we can find some combination of an increase in rates for the wealthy, some limitation on deductions for the wealthy and some kind of means testing for medicare that would -- you know, we dont need to be buying donald trum...

In some ways that the cpi is calculated, which almost every economist believes ought to be fixed which would save a lot of money? and also some changes in health care and perhaps delaying medicare for future generations? would you agree and more means testing of medicare? >> i am concerned very much concerned about medicare and the fact is, is that people on medicare, many in my district, they are already in dire straits and the question is, is whether we can address the issues of medicare by im...

67% believe spending cuts and tax increases are necessary, only 29% think it should cut with spending cuts. that would seem to be -- >> they are going to be unhappy. the question is what they -- what theyre going to get in return. is rising taxes on the wealthy enough to sort of deal with the wounds that will come from the nibbling away at certain parts of entitlements, whether its on some kind of means testing, some kind of lower benefits that filters through the system. you know, the president...