McHenry: End Social Security and Medicare

by | Sep 20, 2017 | Editor's Blog | 53 comments

Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry said out loud what most Republican only say in private. He wants to end Social Security and Medicare. He told Charlotte Observer political reporter Jim Morrill, “I would rather have complete control of the social safety net given to the states.” That would end Social Security and Medicare. Most Republicans would probably agree. And that’s the difference between Democrats and Republicans.

Shifting the burden of caring for our retirees to the states would likely result in millions of more Americans dying in poverty. And the populations most affected would almost certainly be minorities and people with physical and mental disabilities. Social Security and Medicare work because the pool of people supporting them is so large. Placing the burden on states would result in unnecessary pain.

As we’ve seen in North Carolina and other Southern states, discrimination is alive and well. Democracy is not. Here, Republicans carefully and methodically targeted African-Americans in a successful effort to keep them out of power. You can only imagine what they would do if hundreds of millions of dollars to provide a social safety net were at stake.

Before Republicans took power in North Carolina, Democrats warned that they would cut funding to our public schools, colleges and universities. Republicans vehemently denied it and claimed Democrats were using cheap scare tactics. But once they had control, North Carolina’s per pupil spending dropped to among the lowest in the nation. Even today, the Republican-controlled UNC Board of Governors is demanding cuts to schools across the system. And that comes on the heels of huge cuts from the General Assembly over the past six years.

Similarly, Republicans routinely deny they want to cut Social Security benefits or Medicare. They call Democrats’ warning “Mediscare” but giving control of the safety net to the states would leave millions of people with fewer or no benefits. The GOP wants to reverse the programs of the New Deal and Great Society. They would take us back to a time when life expectancy for people who reached adulthood was about 65 years old and Jim Crow dominated the South. The people who would benefit have reaped the greatest rewards by living in the United States. The people who need support would suffer the most.

53 Comments

  1. Raymond

    We the People have abdicated our right to govern ourselves. We have become complacent, apathetic and too lazy to elect people who represent us. “Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.” Thomas Jefferson

  2. Steve simmer

    And yet the people keep electing them. Because of guns and abortion.

  3. Laurie Fitzp

    This jackass hasn’t even given consideration to the mobility of our society. People would have to change insurance every time they move to another state. That would have a chilling effect upon the job market in states unwilling to offer decent insurance to their citizens, creating a downward spiral of poverty & ill health. It has already been demonstrated that citizens of red states have poorer health than those of blue states; this trend would increase in severity when the GOP controlled states decimate coverage for low income people.

  4. Karen

    More propaganda, innuendo, slant and outright lies on facts to scare people. I am no conservative but I know bullshit when I see it and this just happens to be some from the liberal side. Why do people even pass on this crap.

    • David Fisher

      Karen, what inuendo, slant or lies are you referring to? The reporter was reporting on a conversation with McHenry that took place in the representative’s office. If you’re saying he misstated the congressman’s position back your statement up with some facts or get back down in your hole and shut up! Better yet call McHenry’s office and confirm for yourself the accuracy of this report. That’s easy to do with a simple phone call. You have a complete lack of objectivity when you consume information that doesn’t confirm your own biases! I went to graduate school at UNC and loved my North Carolina experience, but that was almost 40 years ago and things have changed a lot. The well seems to be poisoned in that beautiful state!

    • Gloria

      As soon as all your elderly relatives start moving back with you, you’ll understand how important Medicaid is. It pays for 41% of elderly people in nursing homes. Are you ready to devote your life to your ailing relatives & friends? Trump’s supporters in the Southern states will be hardest hit.

      • Brenda Manis

        My mother devoted her life to raising me and my siblings. By the grace of God my mother is 87 and is still independent. If something happened to my mother tomorrow I would devote my time and energy to see that she is taken care of and I know my brother and sister would as well – that is called family – my husband and I made the mistake of putting my husband’s mother in a nursing home which we felt we had to do because at the time we were both working and she needed constant care – if I had it to do over it would never have happened and I would have found away to keep her at home. The democrats started this system, when it built up trillions of dollars they raided the pot. The politicians on both sides of the aisle are to blame. Anytime the government wants to control healthcare, pensions, etc. it goes to pot. I would prefer to be completely independent of the government, have a wonderful family network, than to depend on the greed of people in this country today.

        • Laurie Fitzpatrick

          What do you propose for people who do NOT have a “wonderful family network” & are not super-wealthy enough to afford private care as they age? I am an only child, my husband & I do not have children, & at age 65 I still work 50 hours a week, hoping to stave off my need for SS a while longer. I do indeed depend upon the Constitutional promise “to promote the general welfare” of citizens like myself. For all of the gauzy sentimentality that you espouse about families being able to cope with the care of elderly relatives, there are many, many situations where that remains an impossibility. Many elderly with dementia issues can be violent (my mother was), they can have health issues far exceeding the care-taking abilities of non-medical family members, or the family member can have their own health problems. Since their inception, Social Security, Medicare, & Medicaid have improved the lives of millions of people, reducing poverty & illness. Investment in the human capital of the nation is indeed the government’s business.

    • Ted Remington

      How do you know this, Karen? Did the reporter lie? Exactly what do you know that you have not bothered to tell us? Did the reporter lie or did McHenry say this? Come on, I am waiting. Waiting, Waiting. But I am not holding my breath.

    • Ted Remington

      Still waiting. Waiting. Waiting. All I here is crickets. Thank God I am not holding my breath waiting for your answer. Typical RWer. Say shit and then run away when someone calls you on it.

  5. Stephen Hukari

    How refreshing to find a Representative who has read the Constitution and can do math. Read article I section 8 and point to the place where the Federal government is entitled to run your healthcare and retirement. Read the Tenth Amendment and tell me why States allowed the Feds to create these programs. Look at the debt clock and notice that the Federal government is bankrupt. Look at the Federal budget and notice that Medicare and Social Security consume 60% of the budget – and that the cost is rising.

    At the very least, the benefit of returning these programs to the States includes eliminating Federal waste. Add to that the benefit of voters being able to appeal to a State government that is much more accessible that D.C., and the benefit of seeing 50 examples of how these programs can be managed so that States can find the most efficient way to manage their own needs.

    You are fortunate to have a Representative like Congressman McHenry. We need more like him.

    http://www.usdebtclock.org/

    • may herlands

      Unbelievable! U really think the states would take care of you? How are they supposed to do that when republicans do not want tax increases – do u think Florida and Texas can take care of themselves after the devastation that just happened? Then u should vote no for aid to those and other states under siege. Your comments assume that the state government that you’ll appeal to is honest and above board = what r u smoking? Me, I’m thrilled with a democratic philosophy that’s given m medicare, SS, union paychecks, etc. etc. – all good!!!!

    • Troy

      I’m curious Stephen, where is your aplomb and consternation when the DOD budget swells? Have you been incensed when the President has talked about cutting/reducing the corporate tax rate? How about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma? So we don’t increase the debt, we should just skip over the Gulf Coast of Texas, Puerto Rico, and Florida?

      You think there is no waste at the state level? How naive. There is waste in any organization or entity. What makes you think that politicians at the State level are more willing to listen than those on the Federal level? You know one? Do you make large campaign contributions to one or several?

      Patrick McHeny is an asset the people can’t afford. The corporations and special interests can though. Maybe that suits you though.

  6. Lan Sluder

    With views like his on Social Security and Medicare, maybe McHenry is in fact beatable, even with the gerrymandered district created by Republican’ts to keep him in office..

    Now, if someone could just get him on video saying he wants to get rid of SS and Medicare.

  7. Sam osborne

    The right-wing Republican appears to be unaware that the Social Security Trust Fund is owed 2.8 trillion dollars that has been mixed with general revenue and used for such things as bailouts and incentives from the private business and corporate hoarders of wealth whose greed has them going bust and getting propped up again and again by Republican politics.

    • Ted Remington

      It’s not 2.8 trillion. It’s a lot more than that. But the idea that the money owed to the SSTF is propping something up is simply ludicrous. Whether you like it or not, SS is an insurance plan. Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance. When you buy life insurance do you think the insurance company puts that money under a mattress? No. They invest it. Otherwise they would not be able to pay out when someone dies. It’s exactly the same thing with SSTF. Federal law REQUIRES the trustees to buy government bonds at a very favorable interest rate. The trustees are INVESTING the money. This has gone on since the SSTF was started three generations ago.

  8. Regina

    Mr McHenry, (just in case you are not aware)***The Federal Government does not contribute to Social Security or Medicare, That Program is funded by The American workforce (for those that do not believe, look at your paystub and you will see the deduction) When You are employed the money is taken out of your check before you even see your earnings** So Since you are a part of the Ruling Party and want to discontinue the above listed program, The amount removed from my earnings (also all other Americans that contributed) needs to be returned***Please Review this information before you make Hasty statements, or Maybe, You do have the funds to give back to the american People with Interest.***P.S you need to inform your elected friends to stop borrowing the funds we are contributing ***

    • BRENDA

      I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE SAID. BUT THIS WAS SET-UP BY THE DEMOCRATS TO TAX YOUR MONEY AGAIN AND MAKING YOU ALL KINDS OF PROMISES THAT THEY COULD NOT KEEP. THEY ARE NOW CALLING THIS AN ENTITLEMENT BENEFIT BECAUSE THEY HAVE RAIDED THE POT SO MUCH THEY CAN”T PAY YOU AND THEY KNOW IT.
      THIS MONEY WAS NEVER SUPPOSE TO BE PUT IN THE GENERAL FUNDS BUT THE FEDS RAN OUT OF MONEY AND STARTED ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL. YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY NEED TO PLAN FOR THEIR RETIREMENT ON THEIR OWN AND NOT DEPEND ON A GOVERNMENT TO FINANCE THEIR RETIREMENT. I LEARNED THIS LESSON A LITTLE LATE. I HAVE SAVINGS BUT HOW LONG THAT WILL LAST IN TODAY’S RISING COSTS HARD TO SAY – ANOTHER GOVERNMENT SCREW UP HEALTHCARE, MEDICARE – OBAMACARE WAS JUST ANOTHER TAX TO ONCE AGAIN GET IN YOUR POCKET BY THE DEMOCRATS. THEY COULD CARE LESS ABOUT YOUR HEALTHCARE.

      • Al

        The social security fund has been raided by Reps to pay for tax breaks for the rich. Even then, the SSI fund is solvent, and could be solvent far into the future. Raising the earning cap would make it even better. Remember, a billionaire pays the same as a farm worker.

  9. lynn

    The reason republicans want to end social security is cause republicans years ago gave it to elderly immigrants under the title ssi who never worked in this country. They were brought under the statement they would support their elderly parents then claimed they couldn’t.

    • Robert Robinson

      ssi was never used for elderly immigrants, it is used for disabled people.

    • Ted Remington

      That really is an ignorant statement. Please do the research and you will see that SSI and Social Security ARE NOT connected in any way. If you can’t get the facts straight don’t try to play with the big dogs. They will eat you alive for your ignorance.

  10. Vicki boyer

    Remember those good old days! Grandpa would die. None of the kids could take Granny in, so she got sent off to die in the poor house. That’s the world Republicans want us to live in.

    The people who don’t want to see that happen are called Democrats. Vote Democratic.

  11. Norma Munn

    Read the Wikipedia entry for the guy. Nothing he does or says would surprise or shock anyone after that. As for those who vote for him, no comment suffices, but I predict that before he retires, he will be a very wealthy man. All legal, of course (Yeah, in a pig’s eye)!

  12. Ronna Wilson

    Can only hope they screw themselves, republicans and their ideology, out of existence.

  13. Jim Evers

    This dizzy Son-Of-A-Bitch needs to be hit in the face with a freshly produced Cow Shit pie.

    • Tony G.

      Awwww Jim… now tell us what ya REALLY feel !!!! LOL
      Problem w/ the cow pie is that this guy is so full of it, he wouldn’t know he got hit with it.
      But it’d be a good meme to spread out on the net, to lighten things up with for a while.
      Friggin’ reptillikkkan assholes should be deported. Maybe even to N. Korea and see what REAL shit looks like.

      • Brenda Manis

        Evidently you like depending on the government for your well being. They will be the first ones to screw you over as evidenced in past years. DEMOCRATS ESPECIALLY and REPUBLICANS are not far behind.

  14. Michael Perrin

    Who in the name of God elected this grotesquerie? Why is he still alive? Will he step in front of a large crowd and repeat that instead of in a cozy office with one reporter? Why didn’t the reporter take correct action by eliminating a monster appearing right in front of him? I’ll never set foot in North Carolina, I can tell you that right now.

  15. John littlefair

    Some states might be able to run it economically but states like Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas. These governments have been crooked for yeas and would pocket those subsidies. It has to be run by the feds.

  16. Sheila Ahr

    My husband and I payed for years into the social security system. We could not survive without SS . We do not get a pension from our jobs and only have what we have saved . We do not have the privilege either of health care paid by our employers as a retirement benefit. Eliminate the cap on SS (127,00.00) and fund the program! This is not an entitlement. This is my money and yours that you earned and payed into with a promise that it would be there. Remember these Congressmen and Senators when you vote. They are only out for their party , not the people. Go back and read the Constitution …of the people by the people FOR the people.

    • Andrew King

      Sheila Ahr,

      The money you paid in to SS was not for you, it never was. Everyone who pays into SS is paying for current retirees. When i retire, the next generation will be paying for my retirement. It’s always been this way for SS, I plan on having a Roth IRA when i retire so id SS is gone when i retire (there is a good chance of that), i will still have money to live on.

      • David Lam

        Might not even have a thing called money that works when you retire. Better put something in Bitcoin.

      • Brenda Manis

        AND YOU THINK THE FEDS AREN”T CROOKED – WHAT WORLD DO YOU LIVE IN. THE FEDS IS MADE UP OF THE CROOKED PEOPLE IN THESE STATES AS WELL AS ALL THE OTHER STATES. PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE SAND.

        • bettywhite

          Why don’t you stop SHOUTING, Brenda? Hit that caps-lock key, dear.

  17. RICK GUNTER

    The Repubs view Medicare and Social Security as “entitlements.” Well, I have news for them! I paid for years, and so did my employers, into these programs. I and others “earned” them. To think that the states would provide this safety net is the most foolish and cruelest pitch I can recall in years of writing about politics.

    If you value programs you paid for and invested in or are doing so still, never, I mean never, vote for a Republican. The current crop of officeholders and candidates in the GOP represent the Kock brothers and others who want the feds to pay for little or nothing except to subsidize their greed.

    • Gee

      Am in agreement. Yet about 1/3 of all of the Voting Public VOTE for the GOP and this Thief of our monies- They voted against their own best interest, against what was good for their child and what was good for the majority of the American people. Just look at their plan for Healthcare, which will push this country further towards a 3rd world country with little to no healthcare for many and the cost to others except the wealthy will hardly be affordable. All of this to give more to the Rich …The RICH have reaped the rewards for the last 17 years and going back further.

    • Michael

      It’s a huge pile of money that the republiscum party wants to get control of. The cap needs to be removed, and that will fund the program forever, and allow for decent yearly increases.

    • Linda

      Exactly!

    • Brenda Manis

      EXCUSE ME BUT YOU HAD BETTER TAKE A LOOK AT THE CITIES RUN BY DEMOCRATS. THEY ARE SO FAR IN DEBT THAT THAT THE CITIES ARE CONSIDERING BANKRUPTY. THE DEMOCRATS HAVE NEVER HAD SOUND ECONOMIC POLICIES ALL THE DO IS THINK OF WAYS TO TAX YOU LIKE SS, MEDICARE, OBAMACARE TO GET MORE MONEY OUT OF YOU AND GIVE YOU PROMISES THAT CAN”T KEEP.

      • Troy

        Your excused. Why don’t you take and follow your own advice. Since we’re talking about North Carolina here, lets look specifically at the cities and towns run by, as you say, Democrats. But then, we don’t need to, do we? By the virtue of Chapter 159 of the North Carolina General Statutes, local governments are required to have balanced budget. They are required to keep at least 6% of their annual operating budget in reserve. So, what cities would those be in this State with that much debt to service?

        Who did all that? Since it was enacted way back in 1927, I’m thinking Democrats were in power. But you can check that out if you’re so inclined.

        Oh, if you use a wee bit of acetone, it might get the super glue off your caps lock.

  18. Belinda Singleton

    Hmmm. Then you need to give back to me every penny that I gave to social Security and Medicare since I worked at the age of 14.

    • Elyse Hernandez

      I agree!

    • Gee

      And Interest…Remember when George wanted to send all our SS monies over to the Wall Street Bankers/Hedge Fund managers (this was before the 2007-8 Depression aka Housing Bubble con-job run between the government and its revolving door people with Wall Street. If You think that was bad can you imagine how much WORSE this country, the average person would be in today with the whole shifting of moneys…. This is what they are trying to do only by a different means. Also then they would not have to repay/ Fund the SS monies they have all take out for god only knows what. Also When Congress talked about CHAINED CPI(Consumer Price Index) for SS* -well SS is already under one- it was just another scam to cut monies given to those on SS- these god awful ”CON-gress ”people need to go…*~ *~http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/reports/boskinrpt.html [re Social Security = Already under a CHAINED CPI 1999 BOSKINS COMMITTEE , CPI~ Regarding Social Security(SS, 1/10/1995, Alan Greenspan testifying @ Senate & House Budget committee, said inflation was overestimated. The Boskins Commission was formed to reduce the Consumer Price Index(CPI) measurement. This “lowered” how the yearly ‘raise’ on SS was calculated, by lowering the cost of living = it went from being calculated ‘arithmetically to geometrically’. (Now I can not tell you what geometrically means other than it CUT the cost of living!) So we have already had a cut in the way the cost of living is calculated! It has already been reported that Social Security COLA does not keep up with inflation. If you compound that loss of not keeping up with inflation over they years, seniors fall further and further behind.(see “Pander To POWER” by Frederick J. Sheehan, pages 146 through 155). Now it is happening again and again, every time Congress and whoever feels that SS is paying out to much, even though the actual cost of living is going UP, yet Congress and the Presidents can go and ‘borrow’ money from SS, leave IOU’s and not pay it back. They give ‘free money to Wall Street”, TARP, Quantitative Easing’s and on while taking money from everyone who has paid into SS. Read the Book.

  19. Walt de Vries, Ph.D.

    Will someone please tell me why politicians like Patrick McHenry run for public office? Who is he serving? Where is his concept of public service that our democratic system is built on? Did he tell his voters what he planned to do to them when he first got elected? I bet not.
    McHenry is committed to not only limiting government (e.g., all government social programs are “bad”) but destroying them.
    So, McHenry behaves the way he and his radical GOP colleagues do–vote “NO” on everything that may benefit the people you represent. Of course, voting “no” is really easy. You never have to research, think, or make decisions about anything–you just hit the “no” button each time. Whatever the House GOP Freedom Caucus tells you what to do– irrespective of what you know your voters want from their government–you cave in and do it.. For example, can you imagine fifty different health care programs in the UNITED States? But, Patrick can.
    So, he has become part of a minority of a minority who believes most voters cannot be trusted with their democracy and government. And, “representation” must be designed and operated for those oligarchs who know what is best for the rest of us. Sort of like the Freedom Caucus led by North Carolina Congressional representatives, right? Are you as embarrassed as I am whenever I see them try to steal or destroy what other Members of Congress have done for North Carolina voters?
    So, at end of our lives, my wife and I have to sit by and watch McHenry and the rest of the Republican radicals strip away the Medicare, Medicaid, Disability, VA and other benefits we have earned over our lifetimes. Like I said, why do they even run for office?

    • Werner Loell

      Who educated these people, Karl Marx proponents? The whole GOP seems to be out to lunch not realizing changes in societies, demographics, or global climate!

    • Fox Watson

      Mc Henry is a slug of the first magnitude . He doesn’t run for office he begs the Art Pope Foundation and Koch Brothers so he can make ‘slug tracks’ as they buy off one gerrymandered congressional district after another. That’s how Morth Carolina gets the best Govenment money and fools can buy!

    • Ben Welgoed

      Well said Walt. Let those uncaring uninformed anti-we-the-people nincompoops hear it, and HEAR IT LOUD.

    • Troy

      Because he ‘lives’ in a staunchly Republican District. He spews traditional Republican garbage at a rate and proportional to what will elicit cheers and accolades from the all Republican 10th District. If you look at the 10th, you will be hard put to find a single partisan office holder with a (D) behind their name. That’s how ingrained McHenry is and it will never change. In fact, you’re probably looking at Richard Burr’s replacement in the Senate when Burr bows out.

      How’s that for scary?

    • Walt de Vries, Ph.D.

      Absolutely. They are career politicians who cannot make that kind of income and those benefits from the private sector. But, while taking every tax dollar they can with one hand, THEY VOTE AGAINST ENTITLED BENEFITS DUE THEIR VOTERS, with the other hand. It is an inverse relationship–the more they complain about government spending, the more they take from the national treasury. Need a list of these “legiscrats”?
      For, the most part, this is a bi-partisan enterprise except the current GOP majority in the Congress has it down to an art form. North Carolina has some national and state legislators who have made their long-term livings with this charade. Many have never had a real job.
      They need to go.

  20. TJ Firebrook

    This person is unfit to be a representative of the people. What a selfish person.

  21. Apply Liberally

    Conservative Republicans seem always to oppose any program that (a) is run by the government (rather than the profit-seeking private sector) and (b) benefits the “common good” of all Americans. For some reason, the Declaration of Independence’s support of the unalienable rights to life and the pursuit of happiness, as well as the first Republican president’s concept that government should be for, by, and of the people has escaped them.

  22. A.D. Reed

    I’m shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

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