The House Budget Committee advanced a bill that would set up a fiscal commission to address the national debt and could lead to Social Security cuts, according to some Democrats and industry groups.
The committee voted to advance the bill, known as the Fiscal Commission Act of 2023, on Jan. 18 in a vote of 22-12, mostly along party lines. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., originally introduced the legislation in September, along with 14 representatives from both sides of the aisle.
"There are absolutely those who are getting ready to use the commission as a backdoor way to force through unpopular (Social Security and Medicare) cuts that I completely oppose, and will completely oppose," said Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., who serves as the top Democrat on the committee, at the bill markup Jan. 18.
"We need, and I will forcefully argue for us, to have the courage to vote to increase the revenues into Social Security and Medicare. And if we do that, we can put both on firm footing" without a fiscal commission, Boyle added.
Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., echoed Boyle's concerns about the commission advancing cuts to such programs.
"Americans deserve a government that's fiscally responsible, and is working to lower our national debt, but we have to do that (by) ensuring that the tax code makes the wealthiest individuals and the biggest corporations pay their fair share," Kildee said. "Not by advancing cuts to Social Security and Medicare."
Kildee, who has previously introduced several bills to bolster Americans' retirement, will leave Congress at the end of this year.
Organizations advocating for Social Security and Medicare were also critical of the legislation that the House Budget Committee advanced.
"This commission is a poison pill designed to slash Social Security and Medicare behind closed doors," said Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, in a statement on Jan. 16, when the committee announced it would hold a markup this week.
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, made a similar statement Jan. 18.
"A fiscal commission is designed to give individual members of Congress political cover for cutting Americans' earned benefits," Richtman said. "Any changes to Social Security and Medicare should go through regular order and not be relegated to a commission unaccountable to the public and rushed through the Congress."
However, at the markup Jan. 18, Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., said the commission would "serve this Congress in a supplementary role by developing policy solutions to address the debt and bringing them to the House floor for a vote. To be clear, the role of this fiscal commission is not and should not be to supplant the responsibilities of this committee or the two committees that have traditionally been driving our debt appropriations."
