While Republicans have long accused Democrats of using scare tactics to fan fears about Social Security, two Rhode Island Democrats say the GOP’s planned cuts to the taxpayer-funded retirement system speak for themselves.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed and U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner were among those who spoke Tuesday at a mid-day news conference at the St. Martin De Porres Center, a senior center in Providence.
The lawmakers said the Trump administration is in the process of cutting more than 7,000 jobs at the Social Security Administration and closed field offices across the U.S.
Reed said the approach reflects that reducing Social Security payments to individuals is too difficult politically.
“What they decided to do deliberately is, we’ll just slowly crush the system,” he said. “We’ll take away access to Social Security centers. We’ll make this so hard to collect if you lose a Social Security card, it’ll take five years to get another one.”
Reed and Magaziner repeatedly invoked the name of Trump adviser Elon Musk, who has called Social Security a Ponzi scheme.
“Donald Trump has set this billionaire loose in the federal government, firing people and cutting programs left and right, just to pay for more tax cuts for people at the very top who don’t need it,” Magaziner said. “And it is unconscionable.”
Reed said Republicans want to cut Social Security personnel to the point where the program can’t function.
“They’re breaking the system and when people complain,” he said, “they’ll say, ‘See, we told you Social Security’s terrible, doesn’t work — let’s get rid of it.’ I hope no one takes that line, because if Social Security fails, it’s because they’ve killed it.”
Some Republicans have downplayed the threat to programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. But Medicaid, the insurance program for low-income people, is considered a potential target to help pay for GOP-backed tax cuts since entitlement programs represent the biggest percentage of federal spending.
Democrats and Republicans have failed for decades to devise a plan to address a long-term funding shortfall for Social Security.
Reed and Magaziner said the present threat is far more serious.
Asked by a reporter about whether Democrats are using scare tactics, Magaziner said, “Well, people should be scared. Look at what they’ve actually done. They’ve already cut thousands of staff from the Social Security offices. They are shutting down offices all across the country. The wait times on the 1-800 [phone] line are far too long.”
“Take them at their word,” Magaziner continued. “I think the biggest mistake that people make about Donald Trump and Elon Musk is people say, ‘Oh, you can’t believe what they’re saying, they lie all the time. They don’t really mean it.’ They mean this and shame on us if we don’t take this threat seriously.”
A few dozen seniors murmured as Magaziner spoke.
The event was part of a national effort by Democrats to speak out against the Trump administration’s approach to Social Security.
The lawmakers urged Rhode Islanders concerned about the future of Social Security to speak up about it.
Also taking part in the event were Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, Maria Cimini, director of the state Office of Health Aging, and Carol Ann Costa, executive director of the Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island.
