Rep. Obey says GOP wants to ‘privatize Social Security’

The Ryan roadmap would allow those younger than 55 to shift some of taxes they pay into the Social Security trust fund into personal accounts, the GOP staff on the Budget Committee said. Anyone older would remain in the current system.

“The draconian alternative — as advanced by those eager to engage in false demagogery [sic] in advance of an election — is for an across the board 22% benefit cut for seniors in the heart of their retirement when the Social Security Trust Fund is exhausted,” the staff said in a memo to reporters.

On Medicare, Ryan’s plan calls for those under 55 to get government vouchers to purchase health plans that have been approved by Medicare instead of being entered into the current system.

Duffy himself hasn’t explicitly backed Ryan’s entitlement proposals, and has said that he wouldn’t support “privatizing Social Security.” But Obey noted that the GOP candidate has gotten public support from both Ryan and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who once supported major entitlement reforms.

“All I know is that the lead Republican in the Congress on budget matters — Paul Ryan from southeast Wisconsin — he has introduced the legislation that would privatize Social Security and voucherize Medicare,” he said. “I know that Mr. Duffy appeared on the same platform with Newt Gingrich, who is the person who said he wanted Medicare to “wither on the vine.’ “