House Republicans Rally Behind Plan: 80% Support Cuts to Social Security, Abortion Bans, and IVF Restrictions

House Republicans Rally Behind Plan: A group of 176 House Republicans released a budget proposal on Wednesday that calls for raising the Social Security retirement age, restructuring Medicare, and severely restricting reproductive freedom.

Many of the members of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) are allies of former president Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee this year.

RSC members in Iowa include Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson, and Zachary Nunn.

As a result of the group’s sheer size, the RSC’s budget document serves as a reliable indicator of the policy positions of the larger House Republican caucus.

By raising the retirement age, the proposed budget would cut Social Security, but it does not specify what that new retirement age would be. In addition, benefits would be reduced for those who earned a “higher salary” before retirement, but again, the budget does not specify what that threshold would be.

Additionally, the budget claims that Social Security will only undergo modest adjustments. However, it doesn’t specify exactly what this means.

House Republicans Rally Behind Plan:

The budget proposal was derided by Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, which advocates for protecting and expanding Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

According to prominent Republican influencer Ben Shapiro, who recently said, “Retirement itself is a stupid idea,” this budget would raise the retirement age. In a statement, Altman said the plan would slash middle class benefits by making annual cost-of-living increases stingier, so benefits would erode.

As the Republicans claim to be the party of ‘family values,’ this budget would eliminate Social Security spousal benefits and children’s benefits for middle-class families.”

Also in the budget, Republican Paul Ryan, former Speaker of the House, proposes converting Medicare into a “premium support model.”

This model would instead provide seniors with a subsidy to use on private insurance plans that compete with Medicare. Medicare funds would be siphoned to private insurance companies, resulting in thousands of dollars in additional out-of-pocket expenses for seniors across the country.

“Premium support ends the Medicare guarantee,” Social Security Works said in June. “Instead, seniors must fend for themselves on the open market with nothing but a coupon to offset as much of the cost of the insurance that they can find.”

In previous attempts to cut and/or privatize Medicare and Social Security, congressional Republicans have been rebuffed by Democrats.

It is estimated that over 600,000 Iowans rely on Social Security and Medicare benefits, and President Biden has repeatedly pledged to protect the programs from cuts.

Additionally, the RSC’s budget endorses a series of bills “designed to advance the cause of life,” including the “Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act.”

“The gift of life is precious and should be protected,” the document states, adding that the “RSC celebrates the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision,” the 2022 Supreme Court ruling striking down Roe v. Wade.

In the years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe, 14 states have banned abortion in virtually all circumstances, and seven others have imposed severe restrictions, such as six-week bans.

In Iowa, abortions are currently legal until 20 weeks of pregnancy after a district court temporarily blocked a ban on abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, when most women aren’t even aware that they are pregnant. Last fall, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird asked the Iowa Supreme Court to dissolve the injunction on the abortion ban that Republicans passed in July.

Also commended by the RSC budget is The Life at Conception Act, which provides 14th Amendment protections at all stages of life. This could pose a threat to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) by establishing legal protections for humans at “the moment of conception.”

According to the Alabama Supreme Court, frozen embryos are children, and those who destroy them are liable for their deaths.

Alabama’s state government has since passed a law that protects IVF patients and providers from criminal liability, but they didn’t address whether embryos are people.

Even though the ruling only applied to Alabama, it has ignited a firestorm of controversy and sparked fears of further restrictions on IVF, which the RSC budget is likely to continue.

In addition, the RSC budget proposes permanentizing Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for individuals, which primarily benefitted the superrich. As a result, millions of children have access to food throughout the school day as a result of the Community Eligibility Provision being eliminated from the National School Lunch Program.

Furthermore, it proposes cutting rental assistance programs and housing construction programs, raising mortgage rates for first-time homebuyers, weakening environmental protections, and eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

According to Biden, the RSC’s budget plan is “extreme.”

“The Republican Study Committee budget shows what Republicans value,” the president said. “This extreme budget will cut Medicare, Social Security, and the Affordable Care Act. It endorses a national abortion ban.”

Despite the fact that the proposals laid out in the budget released Wednesday are unlikely to become law this year, they serve as a preview of how Republicans will attempt to govern should they win in 2024.

In many ways, the RSC document echoes the proposals in Project 2025, a plan to transform the United States into a far-right state drafted by far-right organizations and Trump’s allies.

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