114th Congress Starts With GOP Bang: Shot Fired At Social Security Disability

Geezer Bandit steals Congress

Hey! All you ancient white well-off geezers who voted these damned Republicans into Congress... what are you getting for your trouble? In the long run, Dog only knows. But on the first day... the first goddam day of the 114th Congress... you get this, according to Dylan Scott at TPM:

...

The incoming GOP majority approved late Tuesday a new rule that experts say could provoke an unprecedented crisis that conservatives could use as leverage in upcoming debates over entitlement reform.

The largely overlooked change puts a new restriction on the routine transfer of tax revenues between the traditional Social Security retirement trust fund and the Social Security disability program. The transfers, known as reallocation, had historically been routine; the liberal Center for Budget and Policy Priorities said Tuesday that they had been made 11 times. The CBPP added that the disability insurance program "isn't broken," but the program has been strained by demographic trends that the reallocations are intended to address.

The House GOP's rule change would still allow for a reallocation from the retirement fund to shore up the disability fund -- but only if an accompanying proposal "improves the overall financial health of the combined Social Security Trust Funds," per the rule, expected to be passed on Tuesday. While that language is vague, experts say it would likely mean any reallocation would have to be balanced by new revenues or benefit cuts.

...

(Bolds mine. - SB)

Yep, that's the GOP we know and loathe: anything that doesn't benefit exclusively ancient white geezers (or religious nutjobs), they're opposed to it. And now, thanks to the ancient white geezers, they have the power to kill some of it.

As soon as the previous election established control of Congress, the New Deal was as good as dead. It was too much to hope for that the major stabilizing factors of American society and its government... Social Security retirement and disability, Medicare, etc. ... would not be used as bargaining chips by the raving right‑wing GOP. SSDI happens to be the first, but you can bet it won't be the last.

Remember, you disabled geezers: you did it to yourself.