Ripple effects

The coronavirus recession is taking an axe to revenue streams for key government programs like Social Security, Medicare and highway infrastructure.

The high rate of unemployment during the pandemic means fewer payroll taxes are being collected to fund Medicare and Social Security, and less driving means the federal gas tax isn’t bringing in as much money for the Highway Trust Fund as it normally does.

  The Hill

Donald Trump may go down in history books as the man who destroyed America. If someone had actually wanted to destroy this country via biological warfare, their timing was perfect with Trump in office. Oh, look. I'm starting a conspiracy theory.

Republicans are hoping to tackle the issue by including legislation called the TRUST Act in the COVID-19 relief package under negotiation with Democrats.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), would require Congress to appoint bipartisan committees to come up with plans for each ailing fund starting next year. If the committees can agree on a plan, they would receive an up-or-down vote in each chamber.

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Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, who both co-chaired the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform in 2010, are among those who have endorsed Romney’s bill.

"While most people in Washington would prefer to put – or leave! – their heads in the sand, the TRUST Act would create a truly bipartisan process to save these important programs," they said in a joint statement.

Experts from the Brookings Institution and the Progressive Policy Institute also gave their nod of approval, as did CRFB.

But House Democrats aren’t on board, posing a considerable roadblock to the bill’s inclusion in a final COVID-19 relief measure.

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House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said he was "troubled" by the bill, saying closed-door commissions could not be trusted to protect vulnerable beneficiaries.

"In 2010, a similar closed-door commission made cuts to the Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA); hiked the retirement age (which is an across-the-board benefit cut for all retirees); changed the Social Security benefit formula to reduce the amount people receive each month; and made cuts to Medicare that forced seniors and individuals with disabilities to pay more for drugs, doctor visits, and hospital care by increasing cost-sharing like co-pays," he said in a statement on the TRUST Act.

So I hope Democrats have a better idea. I have one: stop funding Space Force and endless wars and bailouts of huge corporations and banks. Tax the ultra-wealthy at reasonable rates such as were in place before Ronald Reagan and crack down on off-shore tax evasion. You get the picture.