Biden and Trump should be DISQUALIFIED for being 'dishonest' about Social ... trends now
Sen. Bill Cassidy is not happy with the top contenders in the 2024 race - and thinks both Donald Trump and Joe Biden should be 'disqualified' for pretending they care about Social Security.
'They're willing to put the future of our country's financial health and senior citizens' financial health -- to sacrifice it because they want to get reelected,' Cassidy told DailyMail.com in an interview.
'That, in my mind, should disqualify either one of them from getting elected.'
The retirement program is set to start running out of funds by 2034 - with an automatic 24 percent benefit cut when it goes insolvent.
But both Trump and Biden have made Social Security attack fodder to go after their political opponents who they claim want to 'cut' the government-run program - alarming Americans nationwide.
Sen. Bill Cassidy is not happy with the top contenders in the 2024 race - and thinks both Donald Trump and Joe Biden should be 'disqualified' for pretending they care about Social Security
But Cassidy is taking the issue seriously and has been on a crusade to change the dialogue, and take Social Security reform right up to the top of the ticket on both sides.
He's teamed up with Sen. Angus King, a Maine Independent who caucuses with Democrats, to corral together a bipartisan group of now around 14 senators who have committed to backing reforms to the program before it runs out of funding.
'We can't go forward unless we have a presidential candidate who's willing to say he's willing to work with Congress,' the Louisiana Republican told DailyMail.com in an interview.
Social Security became a political third rail when President Biden used the State of the Union to claim 'some Republicans' want 'Medicare and Social Security to sunset' - a remark that drew raucous GOP boos and even prompted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to call Biden a 'liar.'
'So folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the table now, right?' Biden said. 'We've got unanimity.'
Cassidy said that moment, coupled with Trump's comments on the matter, demolished appetites on Capitol Hill to discuss changes.
'Before the State of the Union speech and Trump's rhetoric, yeah, we were getting excellent buy-in from fellow Republicans as well as Democrats,' Cassidy said.
'But I found more political courage among my colleagues in the House and the Senate than among the leading presidential candidates.'
Trump has unloaded on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as 'the man who wants to cut Social Security and Medicare' for a non-binding resolution he back in Congress that would raise the age to 70. He's repeatedly fired off warnings to Republicans not to 'cut a single penny' from the program.
Meanwhile Cassidy's plan entails putting an additional $1.5 trillion into an investment fund and allowing that money to mature over the course of 70 years. The plan would cover 75 percent of the Social Security shortfall, presuming a greater rate of return than the cost of investing, which as Cassidy points out, 'has been true since at least 1929.'
The current federal borrowing rate is 3.9 percent, but Cassidy said the fund would aim for an 8.5 percent average growth rate.
As to where the money comes from in the first place, the senator said he's open to input.
Cassidy said the federal government could sell off its other assets that are 'currently laying around idle.' 'Or, we could borrow the money,
