Page 35 - Means Testing News Today

>> bifurcate it those in the program approaching it deal the deal nothing changes. young people paying for todays retirees and tomorrows, we want you to have something when you retire, we will need a brand new compact. i think it starts with means testing, which is to say we shouldnt send a pension check to donald trump. we should concentrate the resources on those that are going to need them the most. we should in the future raise the retirement age to catch up with the medical reality of our t...

Social security. thats pretty easy. means testing for social security. its going to happen or were going to die. lower the rate of increase for medicare, for medicaid. cut pentagon spending. this is not hard. everybody knows what we do. you were there. i was stunned that this congressman, like an awful lot of republican freshmen who talk tough when youre talking about taking heating subsidies away from poor people, have nothing to say on social security medicaid or medicare spending. >> we dont ...

Unfolds, again, this is a marathon to control the government spending because it is taking us years to get to where it is out-of-control and it will take a while to get back. >> we dont have the time. we have to have a new budget march 4th, and then we bump up against the debt ceiling, but we have to decide what we are going to do. we literally have what, nine, ten, 12 weeks, tops, to make all the decisions on a serious plan to hold down entitlements. and now, let me get specific, would you priv...

Income. >> a means test? >> well, no -- >> you said upper end of the income. youre means testing. >> thats what a lot of progressives support. >> but do you support means testing? >> we support reforming social security so that long term its sustainable. >> you just slipped into something thats interesting, which is where some people think you should cut. are you one of those who believe that people who make a ton of money, retire with a ton of money shouldnt get the same benefits as somebody wh...

The american people. >> i just never thought of you as an optimist but let me say mitch mcconnell, senate republican leader told me in a recent interview, what next? where can you see yourself coming together with the president? entitlement reform. i can see us doing that, he said. are you game at the white house for entitlement reform and what does that mean specifically? would you agree to a larger, a higher age for retirement and social security? would you agree for some sort of means testing...

The american people. >> i just never thought of you as an optimist, but let me say that mitch mcconnell, senate republican leader, told me in a recent interview, i said, so where do you want -- what next? where can you see yourself coming together with the president? he said, entitle reform, i can see us doing that. are you game at the white house for entitlement reform, and what does that mean specifically? would you agree to a larger -- a higher age for retirement and social security? would yo...

There. this thing is bloated and its getting worse. >> you put tens of millions of senior into poverty immediately if you did that. nobody who studied this seriously thinks you should scrap social security. you should fix it. i think adjusting the age, the retirement age, i think changing the cola benefits and i think means testing would make some sense. this is the easy problem to fix. soarm security isocial securityy entitlement to fix. the tough entitlement to fix is medicaid and medicare. if...

Helping people. what type of benefit is it when every career bureaucrats decide just what benefit you get? social security tax started at 1%. its now over 6%. the bills get bigger and bigger and bigger. its headed for collapse, whether its in means testing, whether its in higher taxes. its not a sustainable system. >> thats absolutely false. weve seen study after study with smart changes like changing the retirement age, like means testing. >> thats the whole point, julian. >> would you let me f...

Particularly medicaid and medicare, where the real problem is, nobody wants to be specific. the two things we could do would be means testing for medicaid and medicare and social security. i think we do some kind of indexing. >> wait a minute, wait a minute! [ talking over each other ] >> let me finish the point. neither political party, democrats or republicans, i say this as a democrat, have the political guts to step up and do anything about it. >> wait, im sorry this is so ass backwards, we ...

Between people getting sweet benefits right now. but you hike the retirement age and you index the wages to c.p.i., the benefit to c.p.i. growth not wage growth. thats going to create a big fight because companies are telling people you have got to retire earlier or they are not going to get their benefits. the danger is if you reform social security duress on medicare. people would turn to medicare because they dont have social security benefits to help them through their daily lives. >> quinto...