The House Budget Committee advanced Thursday by a 22-12 vote H.R. 5779, the Fiscal Commission Act of 2023, legislation that would set up a fiscal commission to address the nation's national debt and make "fast track" changes to Social Security, according to critics, including possible cuts to the program.
The bill moves to the House floor.
"Republicans are plowing ahead with their closed-door commission designed to cut Social Security and Medicare," Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, said Thursday after the vote. "Many of the Republicans tried to claim that was not their goal, but they tellingly voted down Democratic amendments to rule out cutting those programs and instead require billionaires to pay their fair share."
The vast majority of Democrats on the committee, Altman continued, "rightfully opposed the commission. Shame on the handful of exceptions," she said. Reps. Scott Peters and Jimmy Panetta of California, as well as Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., voted for the bill.
The White House "has rightfully referred to the commission as a 'death panel for Medicare and Social Security,'" Altman said.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., ranking member on the committee, said during his opening remarks at the markup hearing Thursday that "there are absolutely those who are getting ready to use a commission as a backdoor way to force through unpopular cuts that I completely oppose and will completely oppose."
Boyle added: "We need, and I will forcefully argue, for us to have the courage to vote to increase the revenues into Social Security and Medicare. And if we do that, we can put both on firm footing [as the Chief Actuaries of the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have] verified. We can put both trust funds on the path to full solvency for the rest of this century. We don't need a commission to do that."
