And so Boehner's office dredged up a long list of nearly identical comments on Social Security from top Democrats, and passed them on to Hotline. In the words of Hotline reporter Reid Wilson, summing up the state of play:
Boehner's comments, made in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, have given Dems an easy target for today. But once upon a time, Dems thought raising the retirement age wasn't such a bad idea.
And then Wilson cites a string of top Democrats and their quotes:
Those senior Dems include VP Joe Biden, who told the AP in '07 he was open to discussions about raising the cap.
House Maj. Whip James Clyburn's official website says raising the age can keep Social Security solvent. "With minor changes to the program such as raising the salary cap and raising the retirement age by one month every year, the program could become solvent for the next 75 years," Clyburn's website says.
Just last week, House Maj. Leader Steny Hoyer told an audience at an event for Third Way, the centrist think tank, "we could and should consider a higher retirement age."
OK, so candor about entitlement policy seems to be bipartisan. Good. That's to the credit of both parties, even if both have been known to seek tactical political advantage on entitlement issues from time to time.
But if both parties agree on the problem, then they might eventually agree on a solution. As noted here yesterday, if the solution includes raising the retirement age, then the solution also ought to include doing something about Alzheimer's Disease (AD). That's not only compassionate, it's also practical.
As we wrote:
So here's a suggestion: Make a big offer to the American people: Couple the raising of the retirement age with a Manhattan Project-like quest for an AD cure.
History tells us that we could either cure AD or put a big dent in it, IF we made a concentrated effort. That is, bring the best experts together, sweep away the litigation and regulation that blocks progress, explore new financing mechanisms, such as "health bonds," and generally mobilize the country in the search for a cure, as Franklin D. Roosevelt did in the fight against polio, back in the 30s, when he established the March of Dimes. It's worth recalling that the fight for a polio vaccine was initiated by a Democratic president, Roosevelt, then continued by another Democratic president, Harry S. Truman, and then completed by a Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Which is to say, the fight against polio was a bipartisan success; great leaders of both parties joined together for the common good of the country.
The logic here is as strong today as it was yesterday.
Correction and update: The Economist, cited in this space as the source for the assertion that cuts have been made in Alzheimer's spending, now says that it made a mistake--federal spending on AD did not fall, it has merely plateaued. SMS regrets the error.
Correction and update: The Economist, cited in this space as the source for the assertion that cuts have been made in Alzheimer's spending, now says that it made a mistake--federal spending on AD did not fall, it has merely plateaued. SMS regrets the error.
